Beggin' For Thread
by Make A Shadow
Summary: AU: "If you open that cage, then you have to deal with the monster inside. He becomes your responsibility."
1. prologue

Prologue

Kai Parker feared no man.

Not "father of the millennium" Joshua Parker or his own younger by two minutes twin sister Josette. Sure, he held a soft spot for his mother, a wilting woman who succumbed to a man's rigid beliefs and an illness, but she didn't scare him. Neither did any of his teachers, older relatives, or coven elders, who all believed he needed a good lesson from the school of hard knocks. In his experience, authority figures in general were useless at worst and laughable at best.

Except for Sheila Bennett.

Something about her presence affected the rambunctious boy. She visited Portland throughout his childhood, courtesy of his coven often taking pages out of the book of Bennett. He remembered well his mother jokingly telling Sheila to take him with her when she leaves because he'd only listen to _her_. Which was true. If Sheila Bennett told him to do something, he did it without nary a verbal complaint.

As a child, he had an affinity for bouncing a miniature beach ball off the back of Josette's head. Blue eyes wet with tears, Jo would turn and yell at him to "quit it!" and sometimes their mom would tell him to simmer down, but he kept on. With Sheila's hard glare and stern words in the equation, he obeyed. As he grew into his rebellious teenage phase, he'd talk back to his father complete with teeth sucking and eye rolling, but even Sheila's quiet presence at the kitchen island was enough to nip his attitude in the bud.

No one could explain it – least of all Kai.

She never defaulted to sayings like "mind your father's words" or "listen to your momma" or any of that "respect your elders" bullshit, nor did she bat her lashes and coddle his feelings like so many teachers in school did. When she spoke to him, it was as if he'd personally affronted her and they were going to hash things out like civilized people.

" _There are consequences for your actions, young man_ ". Or Kai's personal favorite: " _You make your own choices, Malachai, and there is_ always _a choice_."

Sheila was loathe to say something as dismissive as "you were raised better than that" because she couldn't definitively say he had been. The Parker litter had grown considerably since the firstborns, in hopes of a new crop of twins, and she knew his behavior was due to lack of attention – among other things. That was why she'd focus on him and him alone when reprimanding him.

On Kai's end of things, he did not like her – the lean woman with a sharp face, age chasing her now that she, too, had to deal with her own teenage offspring. Hell, he fantasized about his hatred boiling until he snapped her bony wrists or wrung her neck until her chocolate eyes popped out of their sockets. But he damn sure came to respect the woman. He knew to, unquestionably.

When it came to pass that he would slaughter his siblings in their family home and be banished to a hellish dimension, he couldn't really blame Sheila for her part in things. A prison world may have needed Gemini magic but it was a Bennett spell, which needed Bennett blood to bind it. If anything, that spoke volumes to his own coven's ineptitude and less about the witch herself.

See, Joshua had been planning to send his son away. The boy's erratic behavior had taken a turn of the worse, and he couldn't very well risk the backlash once Kai found out his and Jo's merge would _not_ take place as planned. Myth had it a prison world already existed, so what was the harm in creating another one? Sheila, however, had a caveat to her involvement. Decided while on the jostling redeye to Portland the week of May 10th, 1994, in exchange for her blood she got to keep the ascendant. The Gemini elders did not like that and Joshua Parker was staunchly against it, but the clock wasn't in his favor and Sheila had all the time in the world. They did agree with a warning –

"If you open that cage, then you have to deal with the monster inside. He becomes your responsibility."

"Maybe that's been your problem this whole time, Joshua. You've only seen a monster in the place of where your son stood."

 _x_

Fifteen years later and Sheila is all but the legal guardian of her granddaughter Bonnie. The lack of a mother, Sheila's daughter Abby having fled not long after Kai's imprisonment, and Rudy Hopkin's occasional appearances left the burden of actual parenting on Sheila. The years of staying out of supernatural qualms and grading term papers had weathered the woman, but Bennetts are resilient and she planned on passing that down to her descendant. To do that, they would need to leave Mystic Falls.

The quaint Virginian town had seen a resurgence of vampires, and for Bonnie's own safety they moved away. Not far but far enough. Wanting to be closer to the college campus at which she taught, Sheila realized she owed Mystic Falls no favors and didn't mind seeing it shrink in her rearview mirror. Bonnie, though, was devastated. She was leaving behind everything and everyone she'd ever known because her Grams was spooked. That was her _home_ and they were abandoning it. She felt slighted and had no problem voicing her dismay.

Sheila turned down the radio. "You know, there's a parable about a man who is on a sinking boat. People keep rowing by to help him, but he waves them on saying 'God will help me.' This happens a few times. He eventually drowns and when he gets to heaven asks God why He didn't save him. God says He sent three ships."

"Thanks for the sermon," the seventeen year old grumbled. She'd curled in her seat against the passenger door, her body language speaking to how far from her grandmother she wanted to be.

"My point is you can't save those who refuse to un-root. If Mystic Falls burns, it's because the town and everyone in it let it."

Things were quiet after that and Sheila chocked it up to the dramatics of a teenager. They were right down the road, plenty close for Bonnie to spend weekends with her friends or them to come visit her. Of course Bonnie would bounce back, make fast friends at her new school. The girl was a quick learner, tenacious, and outgoing to boot. She'd find herself just fine.

That wasn't the case.

The move had shifted something in the girl. She grew more and more inward. She withdrew even from her friends a few towns over, going to see them less and less. Bonnie went to school, came home, did school work, and then dutifully studied her magic. She didn't stay out late or run through a string of dates, like Sheila expected. That's how teenagers act out; that's how Abby had. Then suddenly, she wondered if this is what the Parkers went through with Malachai. The withdrawal and isolation.

By senior year, Bonnie had enough credits to start taking college classes at Whitmore. It seemed as if she found her stride with her new classmates, which made sense. Apart from her friends back home, she spent a lot of her life around adults. That's where she gleaned her moral compass. But an incident with an associate professor, Atticus Shane who was being mentored by Sheila, sent Bonnie back into her solitude. She graduated high school with honors and booked the first plane out of Virginia for Boston. She'd got early admittance to study chemistry, and she took it without so much as a bat of the eye.

She was only a plane ride or half a day's drive away, but Bonnie's leaving carved a gaping hole in Sheila. She truly loved the girl, wicked smart, sharp in wit, and empathetic to a fault. Coming home to a quiet house became unnerving. One night when she'd had a glass of wine too many and Bonnie wouldn't answer her calls, Sheila went searching for a long forgotten device tucked away in a box in her basement.

Seventeen years into his imprisonment, Sheila makes a case for Malachai Parker.

She'll take whatever is left for him that hasn't wasted away in solitary confinement. She does this as an balm to the Gemini elders. She doesn't need their permission, it's her blood and her ascendant.

The only response is the warning she received in 1994. He's her monster now.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thoughts? Questions? Prayer requests?


	2. one

1.

 _Present_

He stirs the vegetables in the skillet before adding slivers of beef. The air sizzles with the aroma of stir fry and the peach cobbler baking in the oven. Tonight is important, Sheila said, so of course the cooking fell to him. And that's fine. If it's all he can do to help, he's okay with that. He won't admit it to himself but he's nervous. The hollow tension in his stomach tells him so. They have a guest tonight and for the indefinite future. Not just any guest, either.

The doorknob of the front door is fumbled with before it swings open, the hinges squeaking. Two heavy thuds follow, rocking the bookshelves, and electric power enters the house. Not that he's surprised. He sensed it coming down the block. This is definitely not Sheila. Her magic is far more muted, also disguised. _This_ is pure energy, sun in a body.

Then a voice, buttery and warm. A girl. "Grams! I'm home! The flight was a nightmare, but it still beats driving."

"I agree," his own low, baritone answers.

He moves from the kitchen into the living room and smiles, wrings his hands with a paisley dish cloth. The girl in all the framed photos around the house, in the innumerable photo albums in the basement stands in the doorway. Though, _girl_ isn't accurate. This is a woman. The mirth of youth still light in her tawny skin, but she exudes maturity. The plump parts of her shape meeting the sharp edges of her joints, her jaw, her smile.

Taken by surprise, she balls her fists around her magic and he throws his hands up to show he's not a threat. "Don't freak. I'm Kai. You must be the infamous Bonnie Sheila won't shut up about."

Any softness has gone inwards, and now she's all points. Her green gaze like lasers, teeth bared, and back ramrod straight. "What are you doing in my house?"

His mouth puckers. Had that conversation gone un-had by the two Bennett women? "...I live here."

"Live where? _Here_?" She retreats, steps backward through the door. Maybe she somehow gave the cabbie the wrong address or Grams moved and forgot to forward her the new one. Looking around, she notices all the portraits of her, the familiar furniture. She is home, so who the hell is he?

One foot on the hardwood floor of the townhouse and the other firmly under the doorway, she watches him wearily. "Where's my grandmother?"

"Sheila went to the store. Can't have peach cobbler without vanilla ice cream." He tosses the dish cloth on his shoulder and smiles. It's a slippery thing, like it's natural but not of his own conscious volition.

Bonnie folds her arms, refuses to move just yet. "Since when do you live here?"

Okay, they really haven't had this conversation. Huh. Sheila is usually so above secret keeping. "Couple of years, now. Your _Grams_ took me in, intent on setting me on the straight and narrow. Or at least that's what she thinks."

He winks. She's not charmed.

"I thought she would've mentioned it," he goes on, stepping forward. She holds her ground. "Then again, you've never come home to visit during your breaks…"

She bristles at his use of the word "home" and the idea they would call the same location by that name. If she never came home for holidays, well, that's none of his damn business. Who is this stranger to judge anyone?

"Child..." Sheila's voice materializes from the behind her. Bonnie whirls around and latches onto her grandmother in a tight hug. The women remain in an embrace for a long moment, and Kai shifts in his socks unsure of what to do until it passes. He never much understood the concept. Hugging.

Sheila is the first to pull away. "Okay, let me see you now."

Bonnie blushes, fusses about not having any sleep since last night and spending all day in an airport or on a plane. Her hair hangs in loose curls, like how she wore it when she was in high school. Only now her black roots blend into a golden ombre. Dying her hair had been a spur of the moment decision, but she really likes this look. After the whole Shane thing, she'd lopped her hair into a short bob but had been growing it out ever since. This style gave her a different kind of maturity she'd been digging. She doesn't wear a drop of makeup, so the dark circles under her green eyes stand out. She yanks at her grey zip-up and sage sweatpants. If she'd known there would be polite company, she'd have dressed nicer.

"Hush, you look fine. Like a college graduate, even."

"Ugh, finally!" She grins, her nerves alleviating at the reminder. She's still getting used to it. To waking up and not having to rush to get coffee before class. To not staying up until the early morning hours with her eyes glued to the ceiling when they should be on her laptop. This will be the first summer in years she can actually relax. At least she hopes so. "Is Dad coming over?"

"Last minute meeting, but he sends his love." Elbows holding plastic bags, Sheila strokes Bonnie's upper arms for comfort. "You know how he is."

She scoffs. "Of course. Miss your only child's graduation and her homecoming. It's like high school all over again."

With groceries in tow, Sheila steps inside with an arm around Bonnie's waist. Obediently, Kai hurries to grab the bags for her and Bonnie flinches. It's a minuscule movement, but he notices it anyway.

"I see you two've met."

"Briefly..." She affords Kai another once over. He looks around her age but she's getting two conflicting vibes. He's both very young and aged at the same time. Vibrant energy mixed with archaic magic. Eyes that are bright and guarded at the same time. A fresh face hidden by a moderate amount of facial hair. His broad shoulders are covered with a worn cream shirt, its long sleeves wrapping muscled arms, and paired with loose fitting jeans – it's a helluva nicer look than her sweats.

"Come," Sheila interrupts the tense moment between the two. "Come help us finish cooking. We've got stir fry and your favorite dessert. Made from scratch."

"Oh..." Bonnie's expression falls, her face draining of much of its color. "I really don't want to spend the night with food poisoning, Grams. Airport food is bad enough."

"I'll have you know that since Malachai's been around, my cooking has gone from zero to one hundred."

He squints, his mouth contorting into a grimace. "Maybe zero to sixty is a fairer assessment."

"I don't need you turning on me now, Malachai."

There's an ease between her Grams and this guy, which confuses Bonnie. She needs to get some distance so she can gather her bearings. "Actually, I'm going to take a shower. It's been a day. Busy week."

"Just don't stay too long. We've got three people who need hot water now."

Turning her back before her face changes into a frown, Bonnie grabs her duffels and lugs them up the stairs. She opens the door to the room she finds is no longer hers. Her purple sheets have been replaced with grey ones, the top of the dresser is littered with baseball cards of players from the 80s instead of all the little crystals she'd once spelled to cure tiny ailments. More tired than she is annoyed, she groans and carries her duffels to the bathroom and locks herself in.

Once Bonnie carefully ascends the staircase, Kai follows Sheila into the kitchen, helps her unload the groceries onto the dining room table they never eat at, and goes back to the simmering food. "You didn't tell her."

She pulls down ceramic plates from the cabinet and sets them on the kitchen island. "I was getting around to it," and she says it as simply as if she forgot to get her oil changed.

"It took you four years to get around to it? She was ready to throw me through the wall."

"There have been other pressing issues."

"Housing a murderous sociopath while your granddaughter is off at college wasn't one of them? Sheils, I'm honored."

She strides to his side and places a pot of water on an eye of the stove, sets it to boil for sticky rice. "Instead of worrying about me, how about you make sure you don't burn those bell peppers, huh?"

He smirks but does as she says, stirring green and red bell peppers beside caramelized onions. He finds it odd she didn't feel the need to clue in her own blood on her living situation, but Sheila has a way of doing things. Whatever her methods, if it keeps him out of trouble he's willing to abide.

 _Past_

He halts, sensing a metallic tilt in the air.

In the first few years, he'd get it in his head that he wasn't alone. There was no way they'd really lock him away all by himself. There's mean, but that'd be just cruel and unusual. So he went searching for another poor soul who'd gotten on the elders' bad side.

Turns out it was only him.

But he's sure of it now. He's being watched. He looks up at a tree, half expecting to see a squirrel peering at him. He knows there are no animals here, not even insects, but there is something.

He keeps walking, strolling in the middle of the street of an idyllic Virginian town. This place is Mayberry incarnate. The center of town weaves straight into the residential area. There's city hall with its grand clock tower and two blocks down is a sleepy neighborhood of colonial houses and bungalows. Why worry about a DUI when you could literally walk home from the bar?

He gets to the end of the block and whips around.

Yards away stands a figure, their face marred by shadows with the sun at their back. He'd think he's hallucinating but he got past that phase years ago. You hallucinate when you can't have what you want. If this were a delusion, that figure would be a giant strawberry ice cream cone standing next to Kelly Kapowski.

He moves towards it. "Come to see the show? I gotta be honest, you're a decade and half too late. All the tantrums happened years ago."

"Good to know you haven't lost your sense of humor, Malachai."

That voice stops him in his tracks.

"Long time, no torture, Sheila." Stepping forward, he begins to make out the features of the witch. What once was a lanky, southern belle with long, shiny black curls, and hope in her eyes has been replaced with a rounder woman, bundled in sweaters – despite the heat – and gaudy necklaces. Her hair's been hacked off above the shoulders and is graying. The closer he gets, the clearer her crow's feet and wrinkles become.

He stops short. "Shit, you look old."

"I've had better days." Sheila Bennett lifts her chin defiantly. "Then again, so have you."

"Who knows you're here? The elders? My father? Josette?"

She shakes her head at each option, wavy chunks of hair swinging. "Just you and me, child."

He inhales this, nods his head solemnly, and then charges. He runs at her, low and quick, his hands going for her throat. He's right on her and then through her. Whirling around, he sees the image of her rippling as if he'd thrown a pebble into a puddle.

She erupts with a chuckle, turning to face him. Leisurely and without any fear. "Now I know you know better. You, the master of illusions. Remember when you were eight and got in trouble for stealing your sister's magic? For the thousandth time. You sat in the corner with your playing cards and asked me to 'pick a card, any card.' I did then slipped it back in the deck. For the life of you, you couldn't find my card. Yet, later that evening when I got to my hotel, there it was. Five of hearts, right on my pillow case."

He remembers. Remembers each of her visits with a keen clarity. That particular moment, he'd wished he could be that card. He'd wanted to go with Sheila. Have her take him back to her hometown, far away from his too loud house and too busy parents. Seven was a weird age, and card tricks were his own way of fitting into the magic world from which he felt so removed.

"Thanks for the walk down memory lane, Sheila. What do you want?"

"Do you know what year it is topside, son?"

"You mocking me?"

"I never have and I never will."

"What, you think I forgot to count and all the days have somehow bled together? Boo hoo."

"What year is it, Malachai?"

"Two thousand and eleven... Do I get brownie points if I tell you the month and day too?" He smirks ruefully. "Why are you here?"

"Your elders thought it best to let you rot for however long it took for them to forget you're in here. I always had other plans."

"Seventeen years is a mighty long time to sit on your hands."

"You know what they say about life and plans..." She steps up to him, and though she's a mirage he swear he smells the salt in her skin. "What do you think about getting out early on the grounds of good behavior?"

He grins and it drips with danger. "I'd say you're a stupid fool, Sheila Bennett. A brave one, but stupid all the same."

She matches his grin with her own, kindly and unaffected. Slowly, his head throbs and he's brought to his knees, growling and panting in agony. The gravel on his skin is hot, but not nearly as bad at the heat in his skull.

"I am many things, Malachai Parker. Patient, merciful, gracious, even stubborn. But I am not stupid and you'd be wise to remember that."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I really debated if I wanted to post chapter one with the prologue, but I'm actually glad I got to see how many people were interested in this - reviews and story follows alike. This is a complete deviation from canon because c'mon. That is why we're here! Also, yes, this is based off of that one song by Banks and has actually been almost a year and a half in the making. Seriously, I first wrote this idea and mapped out 20 some odd chapters back in May of '16, so if I slack I fully expect to be held accountable.

And, as a disclaimer, I own nothing but my extremely strong desire to fix what the show clearly left broken.


	3. two

2.

 _Present_

It's Saturday. She wishes her exhaustion had kept her down well past noon, but it's just after nine am and she gets out of bed, her body willing her to become active. She crouches at her duffel and rifles for clothes. An airy black and blue checkerboard button down and formfitting jeans seem comfy enough.

She dresses quickly, can't shake the sensation of wearing an uncomfortable second skin. She slept in her old bed last night, in those grey sheets and on pillows that don't smell like her lavender shampoo. Her ornate cherrywood dressers and vanity have been replaced with smaller, space saving pieces. Very Ikea, very modern. Her collection of crystals were in a shoebox stuffed in the back of the closet, so once the shock died away Bonnie used the rose quartz she'd made for migraines. Even sleep evaded her for much of the night, the ceiling being the only thing in the room that looked the same as it had before college.

Maybe it was that weird dinner that kept her awake.

Her and Sheila had sat at the kitchen island while Kai stood to eat. The entire time. It made Bonnie nervous, as if something bad were about to happen, but she'd done a good job at keeping her expression level. Picking the onions out of her meal and scooting them to the side of her plate, she mostly watched. It was just her and her Grams for years, so she had a hard time granting this new person space in their bubble. That was her mistake because Kai and Sheila got along so well it was as if they'd known each other longer than, what, four years. The older witch held herself like the wise woman she is. Not that it mattered, because Kai behaved like a well-trained dog. Joked easily with her but anticipated what she wanted and when before she could ask.

Bonnie often had to stop herself from grimacing each time he refilled Sheila's glass of water without her first asking. It was sweet, but at the same time a lot like ass kissing.

Sheila tried to open the conversation, to get the two young ones talking to each other, but every response was directed back to her. No matter who asked the question. In the end, Kai washed the dishes with Sheila drying them, and Bonnie resigned to a early night in bed. Sleep didn't take her until the early am, though.

Hot coffee wafts through the air, so Bonnie jogs down the stairs to the first floor. She pauses long enough to note the couch is not only empty but looks as if it was never slept on. Her Grams keeps a tidy house, but she'll be sure to lock her bedroom door at night just in case.

Pulling steam into her nostrils, she steps out of the kitchen with her favorite mug and curls herself into the arm chair in the corner by the front window. There's a car she doesn't recognize parked behind her Grams'. Moments later, the basement door opens and a raven-haired woman steps into the living room. Kai follows her out and then turns to help Sheila up the stairs. Bonnie watches the three of them without doesn't bring any attention to herself.

There's something about Kai and the woman. She's obviously older than him. By the looks of it maybe ten, fifteen years. And they're magnets with each other. Polarizing. While they seem repelled by the other, they naturally orbit, moving in sync. It's when they notice this that the repulsion kicks in. One stilling themselves to spite the other.

The woman bids Sheila farewell then after a war with her reflexes – seemingly not knowing if she should hug him or punch him – she curtly nods in Kai's direction. She's swift out the door and into her car, peeling out of the drive as if she couldn't leave soon enough.

Barring the age difference, Bonnie guesses they're exes. Or siblings. But why were they hanging out with her Grams in the basement? She sips her coffee and watches the remaining pair. Sheila puts her hand on Kai's shoulder as a sign of comfort. He tenses, averse to the contact but thinks better of himself.

"She's coming around."

"You are a bottomless well of optimism, Sheila." His voice is harsh, and Bonnie thinks he wants to add a cold remark, but he falls silent instead.

"You were never good at hide and seek, _child_ ," Sheila says and she's now speaking to Bonnie, whose eyes grow wide.

"It's not hiding if I'm in plain sight," she says, taking another sip. Her and Kai meet gazes briefly before she gets up and nears them. "Um, about the sleeping situation..."

The older woman holds up her hands. "Got it under control. There's a pull out couch in the basement. Malachai will give up the room upstairs. It was yours first."

They stare at each other, their mouths gaping open but no words come out. Bonnie wants to be the gracious one and sleep downstairs but _it is_ her room after all. Kai wants to refute her possible protests to taking the room upstairs, but the basement gives him the heebie jeebies. Neither says anything, and they smile sheepishly. His eyes travel over her, and she realizes in her daze of pre-coffee she didn't put on a bra under her shirt.

Sheila quirks up an eyebrow at the two. "Looks like that settles that."

"I'll go grab my stuff..." He disappears up the steps, and Bonnie trails her grandmother into the kitchen.

"Grams, be straight with me, okay? Who is this guy? Please tell me this isn't some… _cougar_ thing."

"Excuse me?" The woman keeps her back turned as she pours herself a cup of coffee.

"I'm just saying! He's, like, my age and usually guys like _that_ go after women like _you_ because they don't know how to talk to girls like _me_."

"Is that so, college girl?"

Bonnie shrugs, throwing her leg over the barstool she sat on during dinner. "He makes a mean peach cobbler, but I'm looking out for you."

"Well then," Sheila faces her granddaughter and cracks a smile, "I'll hold off on putting him in my will. For now."

"Grams!" Bonnie looks scandalized.

"Oh, hush, child. There is none of that cougar or tiger or whatever animal thing going on here. He is the son of a very old family friend and he'd gone in a bad way. I am helping him out."

"Putting him on the straight and narrow?" she mimics Kai's wording from the night before.

"Please. I'm not a miracle worker. I'm just a witch and a very tolerant grandmother even if you just accused me of robbing the cradle."

The younger woman blushes. "Sorry. I… He said he's been living here for years, staying in _my_ room, and you never mentioned him. Not once."

Four years is a long time in Bonnie's mind. Fleeing Virginia and leaving everyone she'd known behind, present company included. Growing out her hair and testing her alcohol tolerance, although she can never quite handle tequila. There are stains in April Young's car to prove it. Four years is long enough for her to move on from Atticus Shane and date new people. No one ever really lasted more than six months, but that's neither here nor there. Four years is four Christmases, four spring breaks, and four summers she spent in Boston doing whatever she could to keep from returning home.

She likes to think she escaped instead of having abandoned the only person to truly care about her, so it stings to know this part of Sheila's life was kept secret.

"Plus, he looks like..." she trails off.

"Looks like what?" wonders Sheila with an arched eyebrow.

"You know _… That."_ Bonnie attempts to conceal the smile growing on her face. Kai, whoever he is, is fucking hot. The kind of guy you make eyes at down the bar but never approach. If the night's over and he hasn't approached you either, then you make up some excuse like he thinks you're hot too but has a girlfriend. Or he's shy. Or gay. Straight teeth, muscles you just want to reach out and touch, and tall. He's either a great lay or a serial killer, she muses. _"_ What am I supposed to think?"

"Trust that your Grams knows what she's doing."

She refrains from rolling her eyes, but the air of skepticism lingers. "Okay… Who was the woman who just left?"

"None of your concern, Bonnie," she states plainly. "I am thrilled to have you back, baby, I am. But not everything is for you worry about. Just relax. You're home again."

"Oh, okay." She tries to not take the rebuff personally. "Well, I'm going to Mystic Falls in a bit. April needs some help moving back in. Said her dad had a church meeting but the last thing she wants is the whole congregation deciding to unload her U-Haul."

"Hm." The mention of the town is pointed, but it gets Sheila to thinking. It helps that Kai hastily enters the kitchen.

"Hey, Bonnie," he goes to place his hand on her shoulder but stops short. "I stripped the sheets and emptied the dressers. If it's not too big a deal, just push my clothes to the back of the closet. I'll grab an armoire for downstairs from some yard sale later. Oh, and if you find a mint condition Babe Ruth collector's card, don't touch it. Don't even breathe on it. Just yell for me."

"Bonnie honey, why don't you take the cub with you?"

" _What?_ "

 _Past_

"With all do respect, Sheila, are you out of your mind?! You realize what you're asking me, don't you?"

"I am not asking. I'm offering. Either way, I'm doing this. I'd like as little resistance as possible."

"Oh, no. You won't get that from me. I'll petition the elders, my fa – _my father_ , does he know about this?"

"He does and so do your elders. They've chosen to stand aside on this one."

"Oh, god," Jo wilts, sinking into her cushy leather chair. Her hands cover her face, but Sheila doesn't miss the horror washing over the young doctor. "Of all days, Sheila… Of all days."

When she drags her palms down her cheeks, there are tears there. "My ex just called me because he wants to schedule a time to pick up his stuff. _Schedule_ , he said, _because you're so busy_ ," her voice goes in and out of a deep voice inflection. Then she scoffs spitefully. "And on top of that I'm under review because this kid doing his residency here has a crush and when I rebuffed his advances, he ran and cried sexual harassment. I have to go in front of the board in two hours.

"Sheila, I am begging you. Don't do this. Do not let him out. At least not right now."

"Malachai has done his time."

"Has he? And _you_ , an outsider to our coven, get to decide that? Ya know, some states have the death penalty reserved for what he did to our family."

"That's pretty rich coming from someone who's taken the Hippocratic oath, Josette." Her voice is even and unperturbed, but she gets softer. "I came by to offer you the choice. He'll be my responsibility, but there is no harm in repairing bridges."

"What's to repair? He didn't burn bridges. He nuked them."

Sheila steps around the office, takes in all the plaques and framed degrees lining the walls. A bookshelf full of books. Rising above the trauma of her younger life, she really made something of herself. Her mother would be proud. Joshua couldn't care less.

"Why are you doing this? What's he mean to you anyhow? Because he was your favorite?" Jo tries - and fails - to reign in her rancor. "You always gave him the most attention when we were kids."

"No one else did." She sniffs. "Everyone deserves a second chance, Josette."

"And if he hasn't changed? If he hurts someone else because you let him out? That's blood on _your_ hands. You're really willing to bear the burden of guilt?"

The older woman sighs, running her fingers down the spine of a medical book. "I never shared your coven's or your family's sense of resignation. Everything's so final. You call a race before the horse leaves the gate. I could never tell if Joshua was taught that or if he simply taught that. I, myself, have always been a betting woman. I'll take my odds." Sheila heads for the door.

"I'm assuming you've peeked in on him." They let the statement hang in the air, that Sheila would dare tempt a mad man. That she waited this long to do so. "How is he?"

"Do you truly care, child?" She looks over her shoulder at the brunette. "He could use a little of that sympathy you wanted so much from him."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'll be honest: I like this story too damn much! So I am trying to pace myself. To do that, I'm staying a few chapters ahead of my updates just in case life gets in the way. I can't promise an update a week, but I will try my damndest to be consistent. Let me know what you think in the reviews!


	4. three

3.

 _Present_

"So you're a muscle car guy?" She gazes at the brown bodied car, two doors and huge hood. It's parked behind the townhouse in a driveway which pulls out onto a private residential road.

He squints at her, the sun bright and sky clear. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Old car you fix up to impress girls."

"I am not some grease monkey," he says in a bored tone. "I bought this body for pennies from a scrap yard and rebuilt it because I needed a car, something to do, and had very little cash."

Then he smiles that slippery grin of his. "She's a nineteen seventy-two Monte Carlo with a V-eight engine-"

"And her name is?"

He smirks. "You know you owe _Sheila_ an apology for the assumption that I would ever use her to pick up chicks."

She resists the urge to roll her eyes skyward. "Sorry, Sheils," she murmurs, slipping into the passenger seat. He follows suit, easing his tall form down into the driver's side. The engine purrs to life and he smiles, more to himself than in smug satisfaction at Bonnie.

The tense confusion of why on earth Shelia volunteered Kai to go with Bonnie to Mystic Falls had eased, but only slightly. Sure, Pastor Young's daughter could use some brute strength and Sheila needed some quiet time to prepare her summer lesson plans, but Bonnie wasn't appreciative of being blindsided - especially when she wanted to spend the day catching up with her old friends. But she hides it well. At least, she thinks she does.

Kai knew he was unwanted the minute he'd met her gaze. Her mouth said "fine", but her eyes were very much accusatory. First you worm your way into my Grams' life, and now I have to share my friends with you too? He imagined a million things she was thinking but not saying. Many of those nasty comments rang in Jo's voice, ghosts from their childhood. Kai, the friendless pariah, was often forced to tag along with Jo and her friends on many a Friday night. Their mom thought it would be good to socialize him that way. The joke was always on her, though, because he didn't want to be there equally as much as he wasn't wanted there.

Perhaps he shouldn't have agreed to go with Bonnie, but he had no other plans. Instead, he decides to play it cool. Let her lead.

"I am sorry," she murmurs.

Kai throws his arm around the passenger headrest as he reverses and catches Bonnie staring at him. "For what?"

"I'm just trying to work out this whole you living here – with us."

" _Us_?" His eyebrows tick up. "So you're not running away yet. I half expected you to turn tail and leave when you first saw me."

"What can I say? I've got a thing about unfamiliar men."

"Well, if that's all…" They coast down the back street, and Kai has to push back the realization that he's never driven with someone in his car before. Let alone a girl. Woman. A female companion. He smirks to himself, that fact alone proving how much a chick magnet _Sheila_ isn't. "Remind me where we're going again."

"Uh, Mystic Falls. If you just get on highway-"

"I know the way."

She wonders had her Grams spent time there – _with him_ – after claiming the place was better left to its own fate. It's only an assumption, but it guts her all the same. "You've been there before?"

"Something like that."

It's more or less a straight shot from Whitmore to Mystic Falls, and he needs no assistance to navigate the town and its streets. He's familiar, handles the car through the town easily, but she points out landmarks anyway. Down that street to the left is the Lockwood Mansion and Sheriff Forbes' house. That house on the corner is the Gilbert house. Two blocks west is the Mystic Grill and the clock tower, which overlooks the town center. The Young residence is at the other end of Mystic Falls, and they know by the U-Haul truck with a still-hitched silver Lexus.

April peeks out the back of the truck and her face lights up. "Bon!"

The girl just as petite as Bonnie jumps down from the truck and hurries to the side of Kai's Monte Carlo. Not even waiting, she pops open the passenger door and pulls Bonnie out of the car and into a tight embrace. Her vise grip is strong considering the girls saw each other the day before yesterday. Bonnie returns the hug with equal fervor before peeling herself away. "You started without me."

Various furniture pieces litter the front lawn of Pastor Young's colonial home. Two matching teak wood nightstands, a plush arm chair Bonnie often passed out in whenever she was up late studying, wooden chairs to the dining room table they never ate at, and some unmarked cardboard boxes. April looks over her work so far then frowns. "Yeah, well, I figured no time like the present. Plus, I have to have the truck back by, like, three."

She turns back to Bonnie and suddenly notices the guy accompanying her former roommate. "Oh. Hi. I'm April. You are?"

"Kai." He doesn't offer his hand to shake or even a smile. He just stares at her.

"Okay. Nice to meet you, Kai." She makes a face at Bonnie. "How do you two know each other?"

"Yeah, Kai. How do we know each other?" Bonnie jibs, hoping he can explain it better than she could. She tosses her blonde strands up in a messy bun and eyes him expectantly.

"Sheila's a very old family friend."

Bonnie's eyebrows go up. That's it? That's all he's got? She looks back at April with a look that reads _your guess is as good as mine._

"Um, cool. Am I allowed to use you, too?" When his face contorts in confusion and suspicion, she jerks her thumb back at the truck. "Unloading? There's a guest house in the backyard, but the truck is too big for the driveway."

He cracks a smile, one that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "I think that's why I'm here." Then he walks over to the nightstands. April tries to warn him they are heavy individually, but he smoothly grips and lifts them both before heading across the yard.

"Okay, hot stuff." April blushes, looks back at Bonnie. "Who is this buff weirdo?"

"I… I have no idea," she shakes her head. "He was just there when I got home last night. Apparently he's been living with Grams since I left for college."

"Pool boy?"

"You know we don't have a pool." They both watch as Kai disappears around the picket fence and then Bonnie puts her full attention on April. "Anyway. How was the drive? You and Maggie made it okay?"

"We made it just fine. I am glad I didn't have to drive ten hours _in her_ because I still can't get that smell out," she jests lightly. Maggie being April's car and that smell being from when Bonnie vomited her stomach full of tequila onto the floorboard.

"I promise I'll steam clean the hell out of that stain. Speaking of…" Bonnie wipes a smudge of black grime from April's forehead just to the side of her bangs. "You know I would've been here sooner if you'd called me."

The other girl shakes her head vehemently, her ponytail of black whipping from side to side. "Don't even worry. I wanted to get a jump on it before Dad gets back. Coming home is always weird with Mom gone."

"Tell me about it. My dad skipped graduation and then couldn't be bothered to come by for dinner last night. Although, I am surprised you'd rather stay here in the guest house with your dad so close when you could have that massive farm all to yourself."

The tear of a motorcycle engine interrupts the girls and they peer in the direction of the approaching bike. The rider parks just across the street from them and pulls off his helmet. The haircut he desperately needed in high school finally happened, Bonnie notes as Jeremy Gilbert hurries towards them and envelopes them both in a hug.

"Talk about buff weirdos…" Bonnie mutters.

"I heard the prodigal daughters were back in town. Had to see it with my own eyes."

"Who needs church gossip when there's Facebook," is April's sing-song reply.

Jeremy releases them and gives them a once over, and then another once over for his own benefit. "You guys look good." April blushes again, trying to tuck her too-short bangs behind her ear while Bonnie rolls her eyes. "Maybe getting out of Mystic Falls _is_ the move.

Before she can respond, Bonnie senses Kai coming towards them before she looks over her shoulder. His expression is even but much more guarded than before Jeremy's arrival. Jeremy doesn't catch on, though, jutting his hand out. "Hey, man."

Kai shakes it coolly but says nothing.

"Kai, Jeremy. Jeremy, Kai. He's a family friend," Bonnie introduces, growing tired of her awkward ride-along.

Both girls notice the tension between the guys, so April claps. "Okay! Time's ticking and I am not going to be the only one sweating out here." She grabs Jeremy by the wrist and they climb into the truck to start unloading. Kai and Bonnie go to the boxes on the lawn and take them to the backyard.

"You know you were kind of rude to Jeremy. And you were really weird towards April," she says, huffing down the gravel driveway.

He uses his hip to push open the front door of the guest house and steps aside to let her pass. "That wasn't my intention. She just looks a lot like my twin sister when we were younger. Threw me off."

"You have a twin?"

"Yeah, you..." Kai stops himself. Jo was there this morning right before they caught Bonnie spying, but he has no easily digestible reason to why he looks so much younger than his sister. Other than the truth, and he'd rather stay mum on that. If Sheila hasn't mentioned it, neither will he. "Never mind. I keep forgetting that Sheila never told you about me, so why would she tell you about my family?"

"Oh. Right." They dropped the boxes in the sitting area, and she jumps hearing April and Jeremy struggle outside the door with the dining room table. They all struggle to get the table inside before depositing it near the kitchen.

"Hey, some of us are getting together at the Grill tonight. Anyone game?" Jeremy meets Bonnie's eyes before briefly looking at Kai.

"Furniture first, plans later," April admonishes. "I have to get moved in before my dad gets home. I do not want the entire congregation in my backyard, okay?"

The morning flies by after that. Jeremy and Kai more or less shoo the girls away from the heavy furniture and leave them to the smaller boxes and appliances. Considering they were the ones who loaded the truck to begin with, Bonnie and April share a knowing look but don't argue. By one o'clock Pastor Young's pickup truck rumbles into the driveway, but the group already finished. All that's left to do is return the moving truck, which Jeremy offers to do while Bonnie admits to needing a very hot shower. She knows she's more than welcome to shower at April's but she's hoping to ditch Kai, who's grown less and less social as the day goes on.

On the drive back to Whitmore, she looks out the window, the haunts of her old town flying by. She hopes she doesn't regret what she's about to do. "So. Jeremy's invitation wasn't just for me and April. Did you want to come back out tonight? It could be fun."

"Drink by myself while you catch up with your little friends? I think I'll pass."

" _My little friends_?" She bristles at his condescension. Yes, she kind of wanted him to say no, but he doesn't need to be so arrogant about it. "What the hell makes you think you're so much better than them?" She slumps and her seat and folds her arms across her chest.

"I'm not…" He sighs. "I barely know _you_ yet, Bonnie. Why would I care about knowing them?" He affords a couple glances her way and almost scoffs. "Are you really pouting right now?"

She gives him an incredulous glare. "No. I'm wishing you'd drive faster. The quicker we get home, the quicker I can get away from you."

"All right." Kai's foot bears down on the gas pedal, the speedometer jumping a full fifteen miles per hour. The silent drive doesn't take too long to get back to Whitmore, and Bonnie's already on the phone asking Jeremy to pick her up as she hurries up the stairs to shower.

 _Past_

"Nice place you got here, Sheils." Kai drops his backpack on the floor and eyes the front room. Spacious and cozy at the same time. Everything looks more staged and less lived in, and Kai wonders if this is her actual home. Maybe it's part of this test. He thinks he never left the prison world, that Sheila only spelled it to look like people live on this street, in this world. This is probably some house manufactured to look _real._

He steps forward and picks up a silver frame from the table in the entryway. It's of a girl in a navy blue graduation gown and cap. She holds an inscribed, navy leather book containing a diploma and wears a tight, closed-mouth smile. Her green eyes are cold. Sad.

Aside from the women in magazine from 1994 and Sheila, this is the first female he's laid eyes on in seventeen years. The ends of what looks to be a blunt bob peek out from under her cap and she looks how he had on his high school graduation. Like she'd rather be anywhere else but there. He sits the frame down and picks up a black one beside it. He likes this photo better. She's a little younger, wavy black hair down to her chest. She's gripping Sheila around the shoulders and sporting a white-toothed grin, her eyes squeezed shut. In front of the two of them is a birthday cake with sixteen lit purple candles.

"Ooh, when do I get to meet her?"

"You don't."

"Do I get to know who she is?"

Sheila walks to him and takes the frame from his hands. Her face wears a neutral expression, but Kai can feel her protective aura. Maybe he is really is out. "Who she is isn't important to you or why you're here now."

" _Oh_. She's yours, isn't she? Let me guess. Abby's daughter? Or was she a very late in life pregnancy for you?" He wiggles his eyebrows. Imagining a woman of Sheila's age being physically intimate with anyone is the last thing Kai wants in his head, but getting under her skin is his favorite pastime.

She remains unfazed. "Up the stairs. Door to the far right. That's yours now."

" _Okay_ …" He picks up his bag and doesn't wait for her to lead, instead bounds up the steps taking two at a time. Once on the second floor, he notices the white bedroom door in front of him. He tries the knob, but it's locked. There's an open door down on the right, a bathroom. "One bathroom", he groans.

He comes up on the door at the end of the hallway and twists it open. It's a girl's room, maybe _the_ girl's room. Flowery lavender sheets and comforter are fitted on the queen size mattress and the wood furniture looks as if it was inherited from a dead great-great-aunt. The room is cold and the air stale, like it hasn't been inhabited in some time, but it is more lived in than downstairs.

The vanity mirror still has photographs tucked into the framing. There's the girl again, this time with other girls. A blonde and brunette. Several pictures with them, one at a bonfire and another of them swimming in a lake. His favorite might be of the three girls posing in red and black cheerleading uniforms with a handful of other non-descript girls. There's one of her and the brunette girl with a shaggy haired guy, all tucked together on a couch. And a photo of herself that's been ripped from its other half. All of these have her with long, shiny black hair and not one with her wearing a short haircut, so he wonders what happened between her sixteenth birthday and graduation.

Maybe this world is just as fake as the prison world, but something tells him this girl is _very_ real.

"Malachai," Sheila's voice drifts up the stairs. "What would you like for dinner?"

He breaks into a grin before he yells back, "How about spaghetti?"

* * *

 **Author's note:** Uh, what can I say? Depression, unemployment and then employment, writer's block, a birthday, and the holidays can really sneak up on a gal.


	5. four

4.

 _Present_

The doorbell rings. Bonnie disappeared upstairs some time ago and Sheila's downstairs in her office slash Kai's new bedroom. Groaning, Kai sets his book on the couch and pushes himself up to answer it. Not surprised at all, he opens the door and is met by Jeremy Gilbert. The younger guy nods and says "sup?" and Kai wonders if that's supposed to be a part of his charm. All these years, he's wondered about the guy in Bonnie's pictures, built him up to be one thing, maybe even a rival for her affections, but so far he's very much a – what's Liv's word again? – bro.

Spinning a helmet in his hand, he asks if Bonnie's ready yet.

"She's still upstairs." Kai steps aside but doesn't give a verbal welcome into the townhouse. It's not that he thinks Jeremy is a vampire - he'd be able to sense that much - but he knows all about Mystic Falls and would rather be safe than sorry. He actually reads nothing magical or supernatural about the guy. He's just an average human, and for some reason that makes Kai feel better about his own place in things.

Jeremy ducks in past him and steps inside with ease. "All these years and I'm now seeing where Bonnie moved to," he muses aloud. "My sister went to college around here, but Bonnie had already left Virginia at that point."

"You never thought to visit Sheila?" Kai's shuts the door and heads to the kitchen, leaves Jeremy awkwardly standing in the middle of the floor.

"Didn't really know her well. It'd be like visiting your girlfriend's parents when she's busy at work or something."

His eyebrows hitch at that. "You two dated." He chokes the neck of a bottle of water as he grabs it from the fridge. He doesn't bother to ask if Jeremy wants one nor does he a grab a second one just in case.

"Me and Bonnie? No, never." He shakes his head, as if the thought had crossed his mind but he'd been short on opportunities. "No, I just meant comparison-wise. Hanging out with her grandmother would seem weird. Besides," he clears his throat. "Dating isn't really for me."

"How's that?" Kai returns to the living room and resumes his spot on the couch. "You some sort of lady-killer, Jer?"

He gets lost in his thoughts for a long moment. "Close enough."

Before Kai can really cross-examine Jeremy, Bonnie bounds down the stairs, fresh-faced from their morning of hard work. Her hair is down, black roots teased and golden waves pronounced. She's changed into a navy Henley and black jeans, but it's the heeled biker boots Kai hones in on. She may not look date-ready, but she'd definitely dressed to impress.

Jeremy's expression agrees, watching her as she moves about the room. She opens the door to the basement and shouts down to Sheila that she's leaving, and then pats her back pocket for her cell phone and front pockets for money and her ID card. As if she's mentally checking this off her to-do list, she turns to Kai looking up from his book.

Her entire shower she'd thought of ways to give Kai what for. Just because him and her Grams are the best of buds doesn't mean he gets to wiggle his way into _her_ life and make judgments about _her_ friends. From what she can tell, he doesn't have any of his own, and, yeah, it is weird that the only person he seems to know and care about is someone else's grandmother.

All of that flies out the window when they make eye contact. He wears a warring expression, wanting to apologize but also being too prideful to actually do it. So she settles on being petty. "You and Grams can have the rest of the cobbler. Oh, and if I were you I'd shower. You're going to stink up the couch."

Jeremy passes her the helmet and they're quick out the front door. They approach his bike and suddenly Bonnie's stomach flips. Adventurous and brave as she is, she's never ridden a motorcycle. She's not quite sure she trusts the mechanics of a bicycle with a motor. Still, she straddles the backseat and fits the helmet on over her newly curled hair. She does have an audience.

"He lives with you?" Jeremy fits on a second helmet as he eyes Kai shutting the door behind them.

"Don't. Ask."

 _x_

Once they get into town, Bonnie gets Jeremy to drop her off at April's house. She pulls off the helmet and shakes her fingers through her hair, and she catches Jeremy watching her. "What?"

"You look good. Healthy."

"Healthy."

"You know what I mean," he scoffs , averting his gaze downward.

"Not really…"

"You got out, Bon. This place didn't devour you. Alive suits you." She doesn't quite get the compliment, but then realization hits her. Vickie Donovan. And Anna. Both dead. She wonders if they even had a chance. She wonders how she might've fared had her Grams not spirited her away.

"Thanks, Jer. I think." Then she throws a soft punch into his shoulder. "See you at the Grill?"

A grin splits his face and he nods, swallowing back emotion. "The Welcome Home Brigade will be there with bells on."

"Oh, god," she flushes. "They can keep the bells. But drinks, they can definitely pay for the drinks."

He takes note of that, gives her one last smile, and peels away from the sidewalk.

Halfway down the gravel driveway, Bonnie begins to doubt her boots or rather the chucky heels on them, but she bites it back down. She received their intended effect – an impressed Jeremy Gilbert and a perturbed Kai… She frowns, realizes she doesn't even know Kai's last name. When she gets home, her and her Grams are going to have a serious conversation about what constitutes as need to know information.

She twists open the front door to the guest house and gapes. "What the hell?"

All the furniture and boxes they deposited in the living area have been moved or opened. The couch and sitting chair have been pushed against the walls, the coffee table between them. Anything bedroom-related is out of sight and the kitchen appliances are gathered on the counters. It took them far longer to pack up their apartment back in Boston and load everything on the truck.

"You like? Jeremy stayed and helped me move stuff around. It was really sweet of him."

"Yeah… Sweet." She stops, noticing how April still has on this morning's clothes, long overalls and a white KISS tee with the sleeves and collar ripped off. The girl fixates on twisting a lamp until she gets the perfect angle. Her anxiety is on high, no doubt due to being back in town for the first time since, what? Her freshman year in high school. "April, why don't you go change?"

"Oh, no. I have to sweep and unpack and still wash and vacuum out my car—"

"I will wash and vacuum Maggie and sweep and we can unpack tomorrow." She pushes her friend towards the back room.

April halts. "We?"

"Yeah, I'm going to stay here tonight if that's okay. I kind of got into it with Kai on the ride back home. Things have been just...weird and I really don't want to be there right now."

April takes her hair down from her ponytail and smells her stands. Whatever the scent, it offends her, her expression contorting into disgust and surprise. "What'd you argue about?"

"Nothing that is going to ruin my weekend. _Our_ weekend," Bonnie plasters on a wide smile, and April nods. They both know the smile is a phony, but fake it 'til you make it got them though lots of hard times in college. Shitty internships, long shifts as baristas, finals and difficult professors. This is no different.

Conceding to take a break, April tosses her car keys to Bonnie. "Shame Kai didn't come, though. At the very least, he and I could've been awkward together."

 _x_

"Where's Elena?"

While April grabs a table, Bonnie saddles up to the bar next to Jeremy.

"Uh, her and Jenna were packing for Europe earlier. She'll be here."

"That's Jeremy's nice way of saying Elena loves a grand entrance," Caroline Forbes leans over and stage-whispers in Bonnie's ear. The blonde smirks and rolls her eyes. The coolness in her comment is all Bonnie needs to know. Elena and Caroline clearly haven't outgrown their frenemy phase. When Elena does stride into the Grill, there's no question as to why. Stefan Salvatore holds tight to her waist, his lips at her ear, and Caroline makes a show of ordering another Sex On the Beach.

There is something comforting about how little things have changed since she moved, even if the things that have are worth noting. Like Caroline being a vampire. The two kept in touch over the years, but this fact went without mention. Bonnie wonders if everyone in her life is hiding something from her.

Elena Gilbert makes a beeline for Bonnie and holds her in a warm embrace. "I missed you so much," she breathes, her long brunette hair a curtain between Bonnie and Caroline.

"Missed you, too," she replies hoping it doesn't ring false to her old friend.

Nostalgia is a drug, but over time Bonnie took stock of how often she went out of her way for people and whether or not they did the same. Why was it she visited Mystic Falls way more than her friends came to Whitmore? Why was she the one pouring her heart out in emails, only to get lackluster responses? Every now and again, she got wind of some tragedy in the town- Mayor Lockwood dying, Tyler's uncle Mason going missing, a Katherine Pierce running amok – but oftentimes they accompanied some plea for Bonnie's help. As if her Grams would've allowed it.

The less and less likely it seemed Bonnie would help, the less she heard from her friends. In the end, only Matt Donovan attended Bonnie's high school graduation. Shame he's working tonight because he's the only one Bonnie actually wants to catch up with.

With their drinks, Bonnie, Caroline, and Jeremy find April's booth and crowd in.

"Who's that with Jenna?" Bonnie wonders, pointing out the guy with his arm thrown across Elena's aunt's shoulder as they watch a pool game.

"You don't remember Ric?" Jeremy frowns.

"Of course she doesn't. She's been gone for a lifetime. Alaric was the teacher who replaced Mister Tanner after he got killed."

Oh yeah, Bonnie recalls then shudders. Mister Tanner's death was one of her first real premonitions before her magic manifested itself. She never could look at football games the same way.

Elena and Stefan crowd into the booth beside April, and Bonnie turns to Caroline. "Where's Tyler? Is that still… Are you two still…"

"It's off and on," Caroline waves dismissively. "He comes and goes when he wants without a thought of the people he hurts." This, Bonnie knows isn't true. While Caroline kept her becoming a vampire a secret, the girls would occasionally email back and forth about boy troubles. There was one time when Caroline confided in Bonnie that Tyler had to leave town and wanted her to come with him. And she almost had. Bonnie doesn't blame her, though. With the way she's drinking and casting side-eyes at Elena and Stefan, who seem to be in a perpetual honeymoon phase, her and Tyler are "off" right now.

"So how in the world did you two end up best friends?" Elena asks, her voice pinched but like she's attempting to sound genuine.

April and Bonnie share a look, and April takes the lead. "I, uh, after I graduated from boarding school, I applied to UMass in Boston, and Bonnie happened to be leading my group's freshman orientation. We both kind of bonded over being lucky enough to get out of Mystic Falls and that was that. You know, going to college so far away was really a lot better knowing I wasn't completely alone."

Caroline clears her throat and Elena throws her eyes down into her drink. Recovering, April wonders how was Whitmore for them. "If I was anything but the preacher's daughter and me and my dad actually liked each other, Whitmore would've been my first choice."

The other girls mutter some stuff about their studies and which subjects they focused on, but it's a lackluster performance at best. The unintentional jab about making it out of Mystic Falls definitely hit its targets. April tries once more to save face, tells Elena that she's the reason she's going for a creative writing minor. "All those short stories you used to write way back when. They inspired me. You inspired me."

Elena gives her a smile that doesn't quite reach her brown eyes, and April visibly shrinks. Well, visible to Bonnie who seems to be the only one interested in being there. If this group isn't interested in their present, then she'd dig into their past. "So!" she claps her hands together, which startles the group. "Fill us in on what's happened since I left."

The Mystic Falls bunch exchange glances, and Bonnie rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll start. I'm a full-blown witch. I have been since high school. Caroline's a vampire now, and she didn't even tell me. What else? I mean, I got all the emails, which seemed to leave a lot of stuff out. So…what? C'mon, spill."

All eyes go to April, clearly the not-indoctrinated human of the group, but Bonnie snaps them out of it but literally snapping. "April's father used to be a friggin' vampire hunter for the council. She's fine."

"Do you want to it chronologically or by importance?" Matt says, plopping down a massive order of hot wings. He slides in next to Caroline and throws Bonnie a wink. If there's any of her old friends she can count on, it's him.

 _Past_

"And how are your classes?"

Bonnie switches her phone to her other ear, sandwiches it between her head and shoulder. Grams caught her folding laundry and if she doesn't get this done now, she'll end up sleeping under a mound of clean clothes for a week. "Classes are good. Not that they matter. It's like the first two years are a waste of time and money before you get to study what you really want to study."

"Well, you know if you'd stayed and gone to Whitmore full-time, you would have been eligible for a legacy scholarship. That would have covered your tuition."

"Yeah, don't remind me…"

"What about friends? Classmates, boys?"

"Are you really asking me about my dating life? After everything that happened with _Atticus_?"

"What took place between you and Professor Shane is in the past, Bonnie. I just worry you're lonely up there."

"It wouldn't be any different than if I were home." Then she sighs. "Pastor Young's daughter enrolled here. April. Remember, Elena used to babysit her?"

"I remember April, child." Sheila always got testy over any mention of the Gilberts. It wasn't enough Abby ran off to protect that family, Bonnie always got suckered in by them as well. "The second brightest set of baby blues I've ever seen."

"The second?"

"Never mind. Are you two friends? She's a year under you, am I right?"

"Yeah, she's a freshman, but I was thinking of asking her to get coffee. See how she likes it here."

"Bond over being spit out by Mystic Falls?"

"More like dragged out…"

A loud crash sounds in the receiver followed by muffled shouts. "Grams?" Her grandmother sounds to be saying something incoherent, like she's clasped her phone to her chest so Bonnie can't hear clearly. "Grams?"

The other girl in the laundry room shoots Bonnie a look, so she stuffs the rest of her dry clothes into her basket and lugs it out the door. There's muffled noises from Grams' end and Bonnie listens as she heads up the stairs to her dorm room. Whoever is there with her is giving her hell and she's verbally serving it right back. Then there's quiet and Gram's voice is clear once again.

"Sorry, Bonnie. I'm having some furniture moved around and someone isn't being careful with the antiques."

" _Someone isn't being careful with the antiques,"_ is distinguishable enough, the mocking voice carrying like the person is walking right past Grams.

"Who is that?"

"Oh, just someone helping me."

"You know you can pay people to do that for you."

"I'm sure we'll manage," Grams groans. If Bonnie's right, her grandmother has the bridge of her nose pinched with her finger and thumb while shaking her head in resignation. "I've actually got to go now, love. But take the Young girl for coffee. It might do you some good, remind you there's life outside of Mystic Falls."

"You remind me enough as it is, Grams."

They say their goodbyes with Bonnie's promise to call more, which she knows is a lie the moment she says it, and they hang-up. She sets her laundry basket on the floor and plops down on her twin bed. In this dorm, she's got her own bedroom and a living space she shares with four other girls. She never sees them, at least not for extended periods of time. And, yeah, she's been on a few dates, she even had a boyfriend for a few months last spring. But in the vacuum that is suddenly her dorm room, snow falling outside her window, she knows she's tragically lonely.

Maybe giving April a call could be a good thing…

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Not much Kai this chapter, I know. But he's definitely involved in the next one. I kind of wanted to get Bonnie's dynamic with the MFG out of the way. Mainly because I don't really care for most of them, but Bonnie's outsider status with, well, most of the people in her life is pretty important.

I did see on tumblr this past week or two was Bonkai Appreciation Week and Secret Santa, and damn I wish I could've done something to participate. Y'all content was amazing! Maybe next time...but Happy holidays!


	6. five

5.

 _Present_

The herd thins.

Jenna and her fiancé Alaric briefly stop by the table so she can give Bonnie a welcome back hug before they leave to continue their date night. Elena and Stefan unceremoniously follow not too long afterwards, but Bonnie doesn't take it personally. Whatever spell the Gilbert girl held over the young Bennett was broken when Grams' spirited them away. There was a time when Bonnie would've done anything, been anything for her best friend. Would've died for her, killed for her. But for as long as she's known Elena, Bonnie recognizes the other girl's passive aggressive self-interest. She just doesn't know how to be when things aren't focused on her.

Case in point, the only time Elena truly comes alive is when the group regales their run-in with the Original vampires, a family of witches who spawned pretty much every vampire in existence today. In an effort to break a curse on one of the brothers, a sacrificial ritual had to take place involving some orphaned werewolf named Hayley, a vampire the group knew as Katherine Pierce who looked remarkably like Elena ("but that's a whole other monster, story for a different day"), and a Petrova doppelgänger ("which circles back to why Elena and Katherine looked alike"). The whole ritual was done by a witch in the vampires' employ, Greta Martin.

When April asks what happened, Elena gets quiet. All eyes, with the exception of Caroline's, fall to the brunette.

"I died."

April's gasp is the only audible sound in the bubble of the round booth. "So...are you a vampire now too?"

She shrugs. "No. Still human. Klaus drained me of almost all my blood. My heart stopped for a while. But then sometime after it started again." Then she paints on a satisfied grin, as if she had any control over the miracle that is her life. Beside her, Stefan rubs her shoulder in a reassuring way that reads as both comforting and coddling.

After they move on, because no one wants to get into the Petrova lore or cares to talk about the notably missing Salvatore brother, Bonnie notices the rest of the conversation doesn't center on Elena. And shortly after this realization, Elena fakes a yawn and makes a show of waving her hand, mentions an early flight in the morning. Matt and Caroline let Bonnie out of the booth so the two girls can hug. The Gilbert girl promises to send postcards from her and Jenna's girls-only European adventure and hopes she and Bonnie can reconnect when she returns at the end of the summer.

All these years, Bonnie learned not to hold her breath.

"I say we move this shindig elsewhere," Caroline suggests, tossing back the last few sips of her drink. Matt has to go back bartending, which makes Bonnie wilt, but the remaining three girls tuck into Jeremy's sides and trek the few short blocks to April's house.

The blonde vampire is visibly more animated when not in the presence of her frenemy – or is it the younger Salvatore? She spreads her limbs out, doing stretches Bonnie recognizes from their old cheerleading day, and opens up about life in the small town. While they all get cozy in the living room of the guesthouse, Caroline rambles through a truncated version of Elena's connection to this Katherine character.

"Way back when, like way back, Stefan and Damon were in love with the same girl. Katherine Pierce. Formerly Katerina Petrova. Up until recent years, vampire. She's the reason both brothers turned, then she pretty much faked her 'death'," she emphasizes with air quotes, "and made them think she was stuck in a tomb under the town. She wasn't, and the Damon you briefly met become even more of a nightmare when she made her reappearance.

"Damon wanted her back. God knows why because she was such a bitch to him, but he did. She wanted Stefan. Oh, and Elena was like _what the fuck? Why do we look alike?_ So, like, every several generations a Petrova doppelgänger is born, which is why Elena looked like Katherine and Katherine looked like some girl who was the reason the Original vampires were created? I think they used her blood or something. Whatever. It was a whole thing."

Jeremy returns from the kitchen with a round of drinks and smirks at the blonde. "Was that sympathy I just heard you express for Damon Salvatore?" he jests, to which she takes her cup and replies "fuck you and fuck him, too."

" _Anyways,_ Katherine was ready to burn this town down to get Stefan, but then Klaus happened. Niklaus Mikaelson, Original vampire. Actually the son of a witch and a werewolf. He wanted to break this curse his mom put on him to, like, not have him be a werewolf because he was actually the product of an extramarital affair, and he was originally going to sacrifice Katherine when she was a human a thousand years ago. But she turned herself and was on the run ever since. Turns out, her pit stop for Stefan slowed her down just enough for Klaus to catch up. Bada bing, bada boom, Sun and Moon curse broken, Katerina Petrova dead."

She takes a gulp of the Jack and Coke Jeremy had fixed for her in April's kitchen and sighs. "Easy peasy. I honestly don't know why Elena didn't want to tell you. The girl loves to talk about herself. No, that's not fair, Caroline," she reprimands herself. "She loves to be talked about."

Bonnie and April share jaw dropped expressions at the breakneck speed she just word vomited, but before either can regain their mental balance Caroline dives into catching them up on her own life.

For her last year of college she's been interning for the Founder's Council and now that she's graduated they offered her a paying position. "They want me to plan their events. All of them!" She claps her hands together in glee. "It's not like I haven't been basically doing it longer than I could drive."

"That's great, Care," Bonnie says then glances at April and Jeremy for back-up. For someone who couldn't be bothered to return emails or phone calls, Caroline is a wealth of information. But she always had dreams of making it big, becoming a news reporter or Broadway star. A career where she could be large and in charge. Event planning, while well in her range of talents, seems a little more thankless than what teenage Caroline Forbes dreamed up. But Bonnie doesn't tell her that.

"Yeah, great!" is April's lackluster response. Jeremy raises his plastic cup in agreement.

"So what are your summer plans? I can't say Mystic Falls has gotten any bigger or livelier since high school. But we did get a Starbucks out by the interstate."

"Making some spare change babysitting congregants' kids. Rent in Boston without a roommate is about to get really expensive." In jest, April nudges her elbow into Bonnie's ribs.

Though Bonnie knows of course April means no ill will by saying it, anxiety wells up in her anyway. Leaving Boston was scarier than moving there. Boston was her fresh start, but coming back to Virginia meant facing all the closure she never got, never granted. Being face to face with all the what if's and maybe's and what could've been's. And now she has to somehow factor in Kai. Bonnie's fight or flight instincts are definitely leaning towards flight right now.

"And you, Bonnie?"

She can't tell if it's the alcohol kicking in or just being tired, but she blurts a question she's been asking herself since the bar. "What's going on between you and Stefan?"

Caroline goes red in the face, mouth agape, and it takes a long moment for her to recover. "Nothing." When Bonnie's eyebrows quirk up, she continues. "Really, _nothing_. After I turned, he was there for me. We actually became friends. He helped me get a hang of this vampire thing. Turns out I'm a way better vampire than him or his brother ever could be."

Her proud smirk falls. " _Nothing_ is going on," she repeats. "He and Elena are happy together, and even if he weren't my sire I want him to be happy."

"You're sired to him?" April blanches. It's a term Bonnie doesn't quite understand, but April clearly knows a lot of about.

"Yeah. I was dying and he saved me by turning me. Damon would've let me die, but they didn't want another Vickie situation on their hands."

Jeremy clears his throat, says he's going to use the bathroom. "Vickie situation?" Bonnie wonders. She knows something happened to her, something bad, but never got full details.

"Damon...turned Vickie. And then when she got to be a handful, he killed her," the Gilbert explains with his back turned before leaving the room.

"Vampire kills were starting to get way too conspicuous, and if the sheriff's daughter died it would've been a witch hunt." Caroline pushes her hair back from her forehead. "I heard every word, every debate, every side of the argument of letting me live or die from my frickin' deathbed in the hospital. Elena, Stefan, and Damon all deciding what to do with me and I had absolutely no say in any of it. Not my favorite panel of gods, but here I am." She flashes her pearly white fangs and makes a flourish with her arms like she's Vanna White.

"So yeah, he and I are bonded, but that's it. Strictly platonic. Like he'd have eyes for anyone who isn't Elena…or doesn't look like her."

Embarrassment washes over Bonnie. Of course she hadn't known she'd found Caroline's sore spot. She only wanted to figure out the weird tension in the group. "I didn't mean it like that, Care-"

"Like what? Like I'd stoop to being a _mistress_? Desperate for whatever morsel of affection he'd be willing to give me? Please." She straightens her spine. "Whether I feel how I feel because he's my sire or because he's a good fucking guy and what isn't to like about him?, I'd never accept anything less than what I deserve."

"So Tyler–"

"Is a good guy, too. A lot better than the rich, jerk he was in high school. Jesus, did you come back just so you could judge us?"

"No! I'm...trying to figure out all the stuff I missed."

Jeremy appears at the sound of stress and Bonnie notices his protective aura. Caroline doesn't seem threatening, though. Mostly hurt. The blonde deflates and wipes at tears that haven't fallen.

"Sorry. I get it. I mean, you peaced out pretty early on, but I can't help but feel a little abandoned. You were my best friend, Bonnie. Elena may have been your best friend, but you were mine and you weren't even around when everything went south. And you're a _witch?_ I'm not saying you should've been here to save us, but we really could've used the help."

"Like my Grams would've let me. It wasn't even my choice to leave, Care. You know that."

"I know! I know... You know what, I'm going go." She swiftly gets up from the arm chair and heads for the door. In a rush, Bonnie gets up for a hug goodbye. She doesn't exactly want her to leave, but she's not sure what else there is to say if she stays. Caroline notices Bonnie's approach and acquiesces to an embrace. "I really have missed you, Bon..."

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"

"Hello? Vampire." She flashes that white teeth smile, sans fangs this time, and slips out of the front door before anyone can protest.

Jeremy takes the seat that's been vacated and lets out the weighty breath they've all been holding. "Well, I can't exactly speak for her, but I don't think Caroline is really mad at you. She's kind of a textbook control freak."

The observation alleviates the tension, and when she plops back down on the couch, Bonnie finds April's hand palming reassuring circles on her shoulder.

"I'm not gonna lie, shit turned sideways not long after you left. We uncovered the Founder's Council was originally formed to fight the vampires in town and that the current council had no trouble picking up the baton. Elena and I were still dealing with our parents dying, and then found out they weren't even her parents."

He then winces. "Don't tell her I told you that. She's still my sister obviously…even if she's actually my cousin, but everything she knew flipped. Caroline's dad would've rather have killed her than let her live as a vampire. Tyler's a werewolf, which from what I understand is no walk in the park. Our lives were more of a B-rated horror flick than anything. But no one blames you, Bonnie."

She tongues the back of her teeth before speaking, her fingers interlocked in her lap. "I don't take it personally. I kind of learned not to. I mean, I always visited them but they never came to Whitmore. They stopped calling and texting, or, well, when they called it was because they missed the first or second time I called. Or _I'm sorry it took so long to text you back. XYZ happened and I just got caught up._ I got used to it. By the end of senior year when I really needed a friend and they weren't there for me, I guess I got over it."

"It's hard to believe you guys were such close friends for so long, and this is how they treat you now," April says softly. "Nobody wanted to be friends with the preacher's daughter when I lived here. They all thought I was a narc. Boarding school was better, I suppose, but I couldn't name a single classmate I still talk to. But you and Elena and Caroline were childhood besties. You know, 'sandbox love never dies' and everything."

Jeremy shakes his head. "Don't think too hard on it, Bonnie. Really. If you'd been here… Think about it. Elena was a part of a ritual sacrifice. She was supposed to have died. She was meant to. Even though you're a witch, yeah, you could've helped here and there. Or you would've gotten killed. Vickie did. So did Anna. Care's got you thinking how much better things could've been, but think about how much worse they might've gotten.

"The way I see it, if Caroline and Elena can't accept that you got to have a better life, then you really are better off."

 _x_

The clock ticks closer and closer to nine o'clock and still no sign of Bonnie.

Kai is pages away from the end of his novel but, if he's honest with himself, he hasn't digested the last few chapters of the true crime fiction. His nerves are a knot in his gut and he hates this feeling. Worry? Concern? Whatever it is, he wants to set it on fire. He's only known this Bonnie girl for a day, what does he care what she's doing or who she's doing it with? It's not like she has a curfew or made a promise to return home tonight.

But he has developed a stubborn concern for Sheila and Sheila worries about Bonnie, so in a roundabout way if pissing off Bonnie affects Sheila, it is Kai's problem.

"She's not coming home."

He glances over at Sheila, whose eyes remain on the textbook she's been flipping back and forth through for the past hour or so. "She'll be back, but not before making you sit with yourself for whatever it is you said."

Sheila gives him a cursory glance, and he knows it's useless to feign ignorance. She has always seen through him, to him. As much as she gets on his goddamn nerves, it makes sense she was the only one who could rehabilitate him.

"How do you know that?"

"I raised her."

He scoffs. "She's not a child anymore, Sheila."

"No. But she does know how to make a person sweat."

Kai gulps. He doesn't like the idea of someone he just met having the ability to induce such uncomfortable feelings in him. He usually has a better handle on himself than this. It took eons for Liv and Luke to tug on his heartstrings, and even still he can push them to the back of his mind when they get too annoying.

"You didn't tell her about me. Not my family, my coven. What I did... You've still told her nothing."

Sheila peers at him over the frame of her teal reading glasses. "And?"

"You notify my entire coven and three neighboring factions when you thought you _might_ let me out. But when your granddaughter's going to be sleeping right up the stairs, you stay mum?"

She sniffs, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and her attention returns to her lesson planning. "I know all too well what information overload can do to a young mind, Malachai. I see it happen everyday."

"Cramming for a mid-term isn't quite up to par with warning your next-of-kin that she's living with a homicidal maniac."

"Do you think you are currently a homicidal maniac?" She gives him a serious look.

"Not now, but under the right circumstances-"

"Do you think the three of us living together will make an environment conducive for homicide or mania?"

Kai senses the severity in Sheila's tone. Imploring him to think better of the progress he's made in the last few years and daring him to act out of order in her house. She's been patient with him and maybe a little more lenient than his father and coven elders would care for, but he's gotten on Sheila's bad side one too many times to cross her again.

"Doubt if you like, but I always have the bigger picture in mind." She then closes shut her textbook and stands. "Tea?"

 _Past_

"Bonnie, right?"

She looks up from the gibberish on the page before her. She's pretty good at most subjects, hell she's a senior already taking college courses, but math will always be her Achilles' heel. It would help to call or text Caroline for some study tips, but the last three emails Bonnie sent haven't been answered yet. When her eyes adjust to the person leaning down towards her, she realizes she's staring at her Occult Studies professor.

Atticus Shane.

Her eyebrows go up. "Yeah?"

"I thought I recognized you. May I?" With a hand on his gray messenger bag and the other with a disposable to-go cup, he gestures to the empty chair across from her. The world comes back and she notices how noisy and busy the coffee shop has become since she first sat down to study.

She nods, stutters through a string of affirmatives. He gives her a relieved smile and relaxes into the plush fabric.

"I've been coming here since I was an undergrad, but your generation can really be the ones to say they kept the coffeehouse in business."

"Well, you know," she rolls her eyes. "The economy, politics, society, it's all kind of folding in on us with no promise of a future. But caffeine makes us feel like we can make it to tomorrow, so."

The corner of his mouth quivers. "Aren't you your grandmother's granddaughter."

Bonnie stiffens. When Bonnie enrolled, she made a conscious effort not to be "Professor Sheila Bennett's granddaughter". She didn't want the possible nepotism or converse discrimination that may come with attending Whitmore. Which is why she decided to take occult studies taught by someone else. She just hoped no one noticed the slight.

"Can I pick your brain about something?"

Her mouth gapes open, and she blinks a few times before buttoning her lips closed and shutting her textbook. She nods, wary of what could follow.

"Being who you are and knowing what you know," he says lowly, "What are your thoughts on resurrection?"

Bonnie wonders how seriously he takes this occult thing. Does he know she's a witch? Should he? Is he one? "Biblically or...?"

"In whatever capacity you like."

"That's a big question." She leans back in her own chair, shifting deeper into the back cushion, and frowns in thought. "I read ahead in my Intro to Philosophy textbook and there's a chapter on the morality of death. Like, if death is a moral wrong…as if we have control over it.

"But then I thought about how if someone were to get into a life-threatening accident, say, their car drove over a bridge. Some people have Do No Resuscitate in their medical files and others want to be brought back from the brink. It's a lot to think about, that death might be a matter of consent more than, ya know, just cell death.

"I suppose resurrection can fall in line with that. If someone's gone...whose choice is it to bring them back? At what cost? Nature is all about balance, so what would someone lose to gain what's gone? What's to say someone's grief and fear of letting go is a good enough reason? Like a DNR, what if someone who's resurrected doesn't want to come back to life?"

She blushes, slapping her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. Oh my god. I just word vomited all over you. The calculus is making me coo-coo."

"No. No, that was very insightful and surprisingly cogent. Most full-time students don't see the multi-faceted sides of heavy topics like that."

A shimmer of melancholy pass over Professor Shane's gaze, and she suddenly wonders if she said the wrong thing. And, of all things, why is that the first topic he's broached with her outside of class?

"Am I going to be tested on this?"

That gets him to crack a smile and the air feels lighter. "No, of course not. I have a feeling you'd pass any test I gave you. Sheila is nothing if not thorough."

"I disagree." When Shane's eyebrow cocks upwards, Bonnie glances away. "My Grams has a lot of good intentions, but I don't think she sees much of the big picture. She's too close to it maybe."

"And you chose to take my class instead of hers. So what does that make me?"

"A pair of fresh eyes."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I have apologies and excuses, but that's about it. To be quite honest, this chapter was hard because it was a continuation of the MFG, who, like I said, aren't a huge part of this story. Plus, I had to rework the show's mythos to tie closed some elements that we aren't going to have to worry about (i.e. katherine, jo/alaric, the originals). I'm not at all saying I got bored, but having to establish these altered dynamics with characters who aren't even in my top 5 got me feeling like "...i could be writing BK smut rn lol".

Expect the next update sooner than four months. I mean, I make no promises, but I put it in my bullet journal so ya know...self-accountability.


	7. six

6.

 _Present_

Bonnie wakes herself out of a nightmare. The corners of the bedroom materialize slowly and there's no one at her back to fear. April stirs beside her, but the air is warm, the ceiling fan spinning languidly, and there is nothing and no one to fight.

Sitting up, she rubs her eyes and feels for her phone from under her pillow. It's only five in the morning. Rolling her eyes, she lays back down and stares at the fan blades.

She dreamed of Kai. Specifically, she dreamed she and Kai were running away from something. The walls of her old high school slipped past but they could never seem to reach the end of the corridor. When whatever was chasing them advanced, she threw herself in front of Kai to shield him. But Caroline didn't seem to notice him there, instead sinking her teeth into Bonnie's neck like she was the intended prey.

Bonnie doesn't need her dream diary to sort that one out.

April rolls over, her body heavy from alcohol, and blinks. "You're up early."

"Jet lag."

"Don't think that's a thing when you travel the same time zone."

She scratches at her scalp. "Fine. I had a nightmare."

"No." April props herself up on her elbows. "Not Bonnie Bennett. You're not scared of anything. What could possibly be haunting your dreams?"

"Nothing I can't figure out myself. I'm worried my past will mess up my chances at a future." She turns her head to meet April's imploring gaze. "By way of Caroline vamping out, chasing me and Kai down the hallways of Mystic Falls High, and when I go to protect Kai from her, she bites me in the neck. Not the most metaphorical dream I've ever had, but..."

"You know Jeremy's right, right? Everything he said last night? What happened to Elena and Caroline sounds like the real nightmare, but if they can't admit you getting out was for the best, fuck 'em."

A smile slowly overtakes Bonnie's face. "You want to say that louder? I don't think your dad heard you."

"Fuck both of you," she grins and then groans, burying her face in her pillow. "I have to go to service this morning. He wanted me to do the whole shebang, Sunday school, service, and fellowship afterwards, but I whittled him down to just the one."

"Would it be too much to ask you to drive me to Whitmore? I'd ask Jeremy but he's probably hungover."

She smirks. "Hey Jer!" she shouts, to which she gets no response. Last they knew, April had given him a spare blanket and he'd laid down on the couch to sleep off the vodka he'd been drinking. "Yeah, I don't think he'd survive the motorcycle ride to and back. Plus, it gives me an excuse to leave church early. Bon, can you believe he rides a motorcycle?"

"Can you believe he's that buff? I don't know, I might've stayed around for hot Jeremy Gilbert."

"Perish the thought!" April falls to her back and squirms beside her. "Him and Matt..."

"Love him to pieces, but Matt never got rid of that kicked puppy dog look after Elena dumped him."

She bumps Bonnie's shoulder with her own. "Don't tell me you're looking at these townies when you've got a live-in option all to yourself."

"I don't even know him. And I can't say I'm looking forward to trying to either."

"I think dream Bonnie would disagree."

"Dream Bonnie gets herself in plenty of trouble. I wouldn't exactly trust her judgment."

April's hands go up in surrender before slapping back down on the down comforter. "You can stay another night if you want. Mi guest house es su guest house."

"No, I'm not going to let that weirdo keep me away from my own home."

 _x_

Sheila's car is not in the driveway when April pulls to the curb, and Bonnie sinks a little in the passenger seat. Her anxiety has been building since they left Mystic Falls and the flickering lights of the radio panel and the music succumbing completely to static is proof of that. She's felt fear before, and this isn't that. This is...butterflies. No, nausea inducing, ugly moths taking up residence in her stomach and disturbing the residual alcohol her body hasn't completely digested.

April watches her best friend idle and knows if Bonnie asks to go back to Mystic Falls, she'll turn around no questions asked.

"This is ridiculous," Bonnie spits. She faces her friend, meets her crystal blue gaze, and smirks. "Why am I letting this guy scare me? I'm friends with vampires."

April cocks up an eyebrow and it disappears under her bangs.

"I'm kind of friends with vampires. I was friends with people who are now vampires. Whatever." She huffs. "A witch, I can handle."

"A witch who's been taught by your grandmother."

"Thanks for the pep talk, April," she says acerbically.

"I'm just saying... Looks can be deceiving. Everyone here thinks I'm meek little April Young, the girl whose mom died and whose father sent her off to boarding school. They have no idea I'm a hard drinking, profane, daughter of a vampire hunter."

"You sound like a comic book character."

"Maybe I should be." She grins. "You got this. Obviously. Just be careful."

With her chin defiant and shoulders braced and keys in her hand, she strides up the townhouse steps and reaches for the doorknob. Before she can get the key in the lock, the door swings open putting her face to face with Kai and the wind is knocked out of her. They both still, unflinching eye contact, waiting for the other to speak first.

"Sorry," comes out of his mouth, and it sounds robotic to Bonnie's ears but she has no way to gauge if it's inauthentic.

"Thanks," and it's clipped and he's moving back so she can enter and then the door closes and April's gone.

She walks in and looks around as if it's the first time in a long time. Nothing is out of place or transformed since yesterday afternoon, but the energy feels different. Heightened? But that could just be her.

"Sheila's at the grocery store. Again. Sunday dinner."

She spins to face him and is unnerved by his close proximity, but that's her fault because she hasn't moved that far into the house. He smells like patchouli, one of Sheila's favorite candle fragrances, and the faint scent of cedar. And has his scruff gotten thicker in only twenty some odd hours?

"You look like a caged cat," he remarks and she finally snaps out of it.

"Sorry, I drank a lot last night."

He clicks the deadbolt and moves away and out of her space. He left another book on the couch. "Did you have a nice time?"

She exhales heavily and chuckles to herself. "I guess?" When his lingering gaze feels scrutinizing, she continues. "It's been a long, long time since I saw my old friends. I dunno, maybe too much time has passed."

"Don't let Sheila hear you talk like that." He clears this throat. "She doesn't believe there's an expiration date on reconciliation."

"Oh, I think my Grams would make an exception on this group of people. She did drag me away from them in the first place."

"Touché."

Not knowing what to do with her hands, she hangs her keys on the rack and makes a beeline to her chair in the corner. It's enough of a distance away from Kai to feel awkward carrying on a conversation with him but far enough away she feels just out of reach of any surprises. It's not that she's threatened by his presence, but he's not something she prepared for.

"What'd you get up to yesterday?"

He holds up his book, paperback with a badly broken spine. Another true crime novel. "Reading."

"I moved in with two old people," Bonnie jokes, her laugh a cough. She can't remember the last time she had time to read for fun. Her last year of college hardly left time, space, or energy for anything of leisure. She's only a little bit jealous.

"Guilty as charged," he takes the jest in stride. "Hard to be spontaneous living with an academic."

"What about you? You do the college thing?"

"I didn't take advantage of it when I was younger, but I am now."

"Which field?"

"Engineering. You know what they say about idle hands..."

She hums. She doesn't want to dwell on his hands and how good he might be with them. "What's your last name?"

"Parker. Malachai Parker." He grants her a knowing smile. "I wondered when you'd come around for the basics."

"Grams never told me about you." She purses her dry lips. "Still hasn't."

"I know."

"So... _talk_ ," she says bluntly.

Setting his book down, he throws his ankle over his knee. He's dressed like maybe he's going out for the day, jeans and a white t-shirt, but the bottom of his socks are as white as the moment he pulled them on. "I'm from Portland, Oregon. I'm the leader of my coven. I have a twin sister, but you knew that already-"

"You're the leader of your coven? How..." She frowns. "I've never heard of something like that. Most covens I've heard about are more communities or council-led."

"Oh, we have a council of elders. It's a very long story and my coven is pretty hush-hush on, well, everything, but it's a tradition passed down through generations type of thing."

"So you're a king."

He laughs this time, hard. Equally amused and humorless. "Not even a little bit."

"I mean, you kind of are. If your coven operates like a monarch and your elders are like advisors... You're kind of a king."

"Flattery, Bonnie, will get you everywhere with me. I promise."

She tries hard to not blush under his attention. "How'd you meet my Grams?"

"Family friend to my father and coven. She used to visit Portland a lot when I was little."

"Ah. So, you got in a bad way and Grams was there to guide you through it? Get you back on the straight and narrow?"

"No," and he steels up. Not sure if he should tell her. How much to tell her. If she'll ever be able to look at him with those candied apple green eyes again. "The trouble happened and then came the punishment. Sheila's been the rehab."

She makes a face, feels partially unsatisfied. "That's all I get?"

That slippery smile comes back. "Gotta keep up the air of mystery." He then stands and unlocks the front door. He disappears for a long moment and returns with arms full of plastic bags. "I don't know why you don't let me do the grocery runs, Sheila."

"Someone had to be here when Bonnie got back," Sheila's voice carries into the house. She steps inside and her soft eyes find her granddaughter. "Plus, you always get the wrong brand of preserves, Malachai."

He shrugs. "I grew up on processed foods. Force of habit."

Refusing to be left out like the night she came home, Bonnie follows them both into the kitchen. Kai, as usual, puts up the groceries and Sheila lingers. She comes up to Bonnie, places her hands on both sides of her face, and kisses her forehead. She then turns away. "How was your get together?"

"Underwhelming and overload at the same time," she groans. "Apparently the vampire problem got worse after we left. Elena got the short end of the stick sounds like. And Caroline's been turned, too."

"I heard about the Forbes girl. She seems to have adjusted well, all things considered."

" _You_ knew?"

"She did attend my university, Bonnie."

"Right."

"They're all well, then?"

Bonnie watches her grandmother. She hasn't made eye contact with her since bringing up her friends in Mystic Falls, instead busying herself with putting up groceries as if Kai needs the second pair of hands. Unless Bonnie has more to say, this is the button on that topic. "Yeah, they're fine."

"You're friends with vampires?" Kai inquires, throwing a look over his shoulder at her. Maybe Grams never gave him the Mystic Falls memo.

"Sort of. We're not as close as we used to be. Plus, Caroline wasn't a vampire when I knew her."

"Did you say Forbes? That's the blonde, right?" He looks to Sheila for clarification. She curtly nods.

Bonnie makes a face. "Of course. You've been here since they were enrolled at Whitmore."

"Had to see what the dating pool was like. Turns out, it was full of parasites." He winks before turning his back, goes back to rearranging cans in the cabinet. "Hey, Sheils, didn't she corner you that one time?"

"That would imply I was caught off guard," she chides and, conceding to her point, Kai shrugs. "No, she didn't corner me. She did, however, continually try to schedule office hours with me when she wasn't enrolled in any of my classes or program."

"What for?" Bonnie speaks up.

"She was curious if I knew anything about vampire dynamics."

"Did you?"

"I gave her a few occult books to read. She wanted to know about siring, which worried me but her business is none of mine." She waves a hand full of garish gold rings around. "I could do for a change of topic. This house has an invitation barrier intact, so let us add vampire discussion to that ban."

Kai puts his hands up with mock surrender, while Bonnie reaches in her back pocket for her cell phone. "Hey, what does sire mean?" she texts. She watches the text bubble march ellipses back and forth for a good minute before April's cherubic face pops up on the screen. Slipping out of the kitchen, Bonnie answers.

"Hey, sorry, it's a lot to type. But it's more or less ingrained loyalty to the vampire who makes a new vampire. It can be super, super innocuous, but it can also be a very creepy master/slave dynamic. When Caroline said she was sired to Stefan, it just blew my mind. I don't know him and Caroline seems adamant about not being taken advantage of, so maybe she's not _sired_ sired to him, ya know."

"Right."

"But if she is... He could tell her to have a nice day, which is harmless, but now her thoughts are colored with having a nice day. Or he could tell her to kill someone and even if she's against it, she wouldn't necessarily be able to stop if the opportunity presented itself."

"So, brainwashing?"

"No, not exactly. She could completely oppose something he tells her. She could argue and fight it, but it's like a cell doing what its programmed to do."

"That's scary."

"Uh, yeah. Especially if she's secretly in love with him. It's actually a pretty rare occurrence in vampires. But vampirism amplifies whatever the person was like when they died, so..."

"Geez..."

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. I wanted to clarify something, I guess. Thanks."

"Yeah, of course. How are things with the weirdo?"

"Surprisingly, less weird." She throws a glance towards the kitchen, where Kai is actively listening to Sheila talk with a carrot poking out between his lips. "But only slightly. Look, I've got to go. We're all making dinner."

"That sounds nice. My father's taking me to a buffet. Pray for me?"

The girls say their goodbyes, and she jumps noticing Kai's entrance into the living room. He keeps an even expression at her shock. "Was that your friend April?"

"Uh, yeah." She tucks her phone in her back pocket. "Her dad was a vampire hunter, so she was explaining something to me."

"Pastor Young fought the vamps, huh?"

"Do you know everyone in my life?" she bites and the harshness takes her aback.

Kai doesn't take offense, though. Impressed, he folds his arms across his broad chest. "You've got some sharp edges, don't you, Bon?"

The way his gray eyes drink her in when he says this makes her flush. He's entertained, enjoying himself, but Bonnie can't say the same. She just becomes increasing irritated, but she can't blame him for her frustrations. Instead, she smiles, gives him a hard stare that turn her eyes a cool jade. "Don't you have dinner to cook?"

 _Past_

"She's not going to show."

"Have a little faith, Malachai."

"Faith is the one thing I've never had, Sheila. Seems like an odd time to start."

A car door being slammed forcefully echoes from outside and Kai shoots to his feet. He wants to flee. He wants to fight. He...

He looks at Sheila, who raises her eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to get that?" she asks, full well knowing the answer. He exhales through his nose, nostrils flaring, and heads for the front door. When he swings it open, he's met by icy blue eyes filled with terror and a fist raised to knock.

They glare at each other for a long minute, but, when Kai shows no move to attack her, Jo swallows and composes her face into righteous anger. "You gonna let me in or are you just going to waste more of my time?"

He lets her inside and as he goes to shut the door, her hand juts out and slams it back open. Flashes him her hospital ID badge clipped to her burgundy blouse. "I've told my colleagues and a few friends where I am. If they don't hear from me in thirty minutes, they know to contact the authorities and send them to this exact address. Okay?" Her cold eyes bore into Kai before meeting Sheila's, who still rests in the arm chair in the corner. Their silence equals their compliance, so she drops her arm and steps into the townhouse. "Let's get this over with."

"Nice to see you, too, sissy," Kai grumbles and he doesn't miss Jo's glare because of course she heard that. They're twins. They grew up together. They shared a womb. As much as she'd like to bleach it out of her system, she's linked to him in ways she'll never understand and will never be able to duplicate.

Kai returns to his seat on the couch, and Sheila gestures to the loveseat for Jo. She scoffs. "I don't have time for a therapy session."

"You're going to want to sit for this, child." Sheila's voice while soft is just as commanding as ever, and Jo obediently sinks down onto the plush cushions.

She's closer to Kai than she is to the door, and she hates it. "I'm listening."

From behind her back, the Bennett witch reveals a large knife. It's covered in rust and dirt and dried blood, and though it's been close to twenty years since she last saw it Jo goes ashen. Kai stiffens at his sister's nervousness, but Sheila remains calm. "I didn't call you here to waste your time."

"No, absolutely not! Are you _insane_?" she jumps up and makes for the door.

"Sit down, Josette," is Sheila's response, and the doctor freezes in place. Magic does not keep her there nor does fear of what could happen to her. It's morbid curiosity.

For years after May 10th, 1994, she dreaded the moment Kai would leave his prison world. The council, her father never told her they gave Sheila Bennett the ascendant, but in her heart of hearts she knew he wouldn't stay there forever. Though, after some time, she fooled herself into thinking he'd be imprisoned for long enough. Long enough for her to go on with her life outside of Portland. Long enough for her to craft a new identity as a woman who wants to help people and never felt the cold embrace of trauma. Long enough for her to figure out what medical emergency better suited the scar on her abdomen, so she'd never have to reveal to a lover seeing her naked body for the first time that she'd been stabbed by her own twin brother. Long enough for her to forget. But sometimes she ruminated on what would happen when he got out and how he'd kill her. She always knew she'd die by his hand. Only this time, he has help.

Slowly turning on her heels, she licks her lips and goes back to the loveseat. "Like I said, thirty minutes or my friends call the cops."

"What. A. Drama queen," Kai laughs and it's to alleviate his nervousness, not hers. "We're not going to kill you, Josie. I want to, believe me. I really should for that stunt you pulled back in ninety-four, but Sheila has a better plan."

Pulling her attention away from the ghost of brothers past, she looks at Sheila. Her mentor. A woman she grew to love and trust, and she wonders what could be worse than death? "What are you going to do to me?"

"We're not going to do anything _to_ you, Josette. I asked you to come here because I would like you to merge your magic with Kai."

" _Merge_?" So there is a fate worse than death. "You want me to merge with this psycho? After what he did? After me not having practiced in years and he's been living here for months sucking up whatever you've been teaching him? Sorry, Sheila, but with all due respect - there is no fucking way I'm dying today."

A thin eyebrow hitches, but Sheila grants Jo the profane admission. This isn't something one could ask over a telephone call, and because Jo would rather bury her past than embrace it so she can healthily move on it makes sense that she's terrified and feeling betrayed. But time has weathered Sheila's patience, so she sets the knife on her lap and folds her fingers together.

"I'm not asking you to do the soul merge, Josette. I've lost too many friends to your coven's way of doing things. I'm asking you to help your brother rehabilitate. As a siphon, he can hold magic but not for long. If you give him yours, because it's Gemini magic, perhaps we can fake the merge."

"Fake it? And if it doesn't work, then neither of us have magic."

"Like you ever liked being a witch." Kai groans, growing antsy in his seat. "She tweaked the spell. Jesus, Josie, have you no faith?"

"Not after what you did to our family, no."

He buttons his lips after that, returns to his sullen silence.

"I may have found a work-around. A way to give him self-sustaining magic and following original ritual without the soul merging." She extends the knife to the other woman. "But we can't do anything unless _you_ want to. I can't make you take back your magic and I certainly can't force you to merge. That's always been a two-way street."

She takes the old relic, the scar on her stomach twinging, and affords the older witch a tight smile dripping in disdain. "If this will get him out of my life for good, then fine. Whatever you say, _Sheils._ "

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This one got a little longer than expected, but I initially forgot to write that last scene even though I promised tumblr this update, like, a month ago. It's important to me that Sheila isn't just some background, matchmaking character. Ol' girl has her own motives, too.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think! I got a few really nice reviews on the last chapter that made me feel like maybe I have something here. And not just because it's an alternate universe I'm curious about.


	8. seven

7.

 _Present_

Bonnie stomps down the stairs, out the front door, and onto the porch. There's a plot of grass which Sheila's townhouse shares with the next door neighbor and Kai is pushing a lawn mower back and forth over that very spot.

"Kai!" she yells over the roar of the tiny engine. " _Kai_!"

So focused on his work, he doesn't hear her but he knows she's there. He feels her watching him, so he looks up. No, she's glaring at him, her arms animatedly flapping at her sides. He releases the clutch on the mower and wipes the back of his hand across his forehead. "What?"

"It's hardly eight in the morning. Are you _insane_? Some people are trying to sleep."

"Sheila's gone for summer school and I always mow the lawn on Monday mornings," he responds, unbothered by her use to the "I" word, which is a firm no-no in Sheila's household. But Bonnie doesn't know that yet, so he lets it slide.

"Dude, I just graduated. I haven't been able to sleep in past nine in I don't know how long."

He crosses his arms, bites his bottom lip, and squints up at her. "You wanna explain that to Charlie here?" He jerks his finger towards the neighbor's house.

She groans. Charlie has lived next door since before Bonnie and Sheila moved to Whitmore. The Vietnam solider is a crotchety old man, who keeps his car and yard in pristine condition. He's never been awarded "Yard of the Month" by the Chamber of Commerce, though.

Full of pride, she steps barefoot down the porch steps and marches past Kai to Charlie's front door. She knocks a few times because she knows the man is awake by now and waits. The curtain covering the nearest window flashes open before the locks on the other side of the door disengage and he appears. Five foot nothing and his eyebrows permanently drawn together in a scowl, he looks up at Bonnie. "I ain't buying Girl Scout cookies today."

The remark makes no sense. Bonnie's wearing a pair of black leggings and a loose purple shirt, her hair still in the two braids she fell asleep with. "No, Lieutenant Seger. It's me, Bonnie. Bonnie Bennett from next door?"

"Oh, yeah," he says, though there's no hint of recognition on his puckered, pink face. "I still ain't buying whatever it is you're selling."

In an effort to not roll her eyes at the veteran, her gaze cuts to the wall behind his head. She spots his wedding photo, a younger version of him grinning ear to ear in his Army dress uniform and his wife, a Vietnamese woman, in a casual floral dress. She's just as short as he is, but the surrounding photos show how much better she aged compared to him.

"I'm not selling anything, _sir_." Bonnie says, returning her gaze to the man in front of her. This is the south and he's military. Manners are they only way she'll get through to him. "I just got back in town from college and I could really use some extra time to sleep. You know, quiet time? Is it possible Kai can finish your yard later? Please."

His dark eyes dart to the younger man leaning against the bar of the red mower. Kai raises his arm and waves, a curt but amused smirk on his lips. Charlie looks back up at Bonnie. "You paying him more than me?"

"Sorry?"

"You gonna pay him more to _not_ mow my lawn than I pay him to mow my lawn?"

"Uh. I, I don't have any money."

"Then he does his job, little lady." _Little?_ Bonnie latches onto the word. She dwarfs this man by three whole inches. "You're never too old to learn good work ethic, college girl," he continues, making a show of shooing her away. The door closes in her face and she takes a few moments to collect her thoughts and control her expression.

She stomps down the stairs and strolls over to Kai. His thick eyebrows are raised in expectation, as if he hadn't watched that entire exchange of Bonnie getting her ass handed to her before her morning coffee. Bonnie's eyes find the ring of sweat dampening the collar of his t-shirt before she looks up at him, beads of sweat scattered across his top lip and forehead. "How long are you going to take?"

Kai sniffs and looks far off into the distance. "Well, I have to finish here and then both backyards. Mister Forman down the street asked about me mowing his, but he's a cheapskate and I'm trying to run an honest business here." He swivels to look at the townhouse across the street. "Oh, and Missus Warren wants me to spruce up her spruce tree with some cedar chips like I did with Sheila's bushes."

Bonnie glances over her shoulder at the russet chips gathered over the roots and around the trunks of their manicured shrubs along the porch siding. Then she stares blank faced back at Kai.

"But I'll be real quiet while I'm doing that. Unless…" His finger and thumb find his chin and his amusement transforms into wistfulness. "She wants me to weed-eat. That can get noisy, too."

"You're infuriating, you know that?"

"That's probably the nicest insult anyone's ever paid me. I told you what flattery does to me, Bon." His smirk returns, inching his lips higher until his white teeth peek out.

She groans again and hurries back into the house, slams the front door behind her. Huffing, she listens for the lawn mower as it roars back to life and makes her way back up to her room. If there's one thing she misses about the city of Boston, it's how apartment complexes don't have lawns to be mowed.

 _x_

She'd deny it straight to his face, but Bonnie's surprised at what a good landscaper Kai actually is. He's pretty meticulous with his work, and it shows. While she's never one for the outdoors, she finds her way to the front porch a few hours later. With a club sandwich on pumpernickel bread, a cool glass of lemonade, and a book she picked up from the airport, she relaxes on the shaded porch swing.

Across the street, Kai's on his hands and knees yanking at a stubborn root in Mrs. Warren's yard, his useless shovel a couple feet away. The sun beats down on his back but he's already shed his sweaty shirt. His cedar laying is a lot less obnoxious than his lawn mowing, but occasionally Bonnie peeks over the rim of her Ray-Bans at him. Just to watch his progress, of course.

He snatches the root out of the soil and exhales in triumph. Mrs. Warren's yard isn't nearly has fertile as Sheila's, but Mrs. Warren isn't a witch with tricks to maintain a nice lawn. Then again, the woman can convince a cactus to shrivel up and die just by talking to it, so maybe her bitterness is power enough. Either way he needs a break and Bonnie camping out on the porch hasn't escaped his notice.

After their tiff this morning, Kai considered holding off on the yard work. The radio in his Monte Carlo was in need of rewiring, but Charlie pays him kindly for the work his bones were too old to do. Plus, if Bonnie thought she could move in and boss him around, it didn't matter if he liked it, she wasn't going to get away with it. Sheila found that Kai behaved best when he had a schedule and people who held him accountable on a regular basis. Consistency was key, and her granddaughter would not be an exception to that rule.

Balling his wet, discarded shirt in his fist, he jogs back home and bounds up the steps. The young woman with her legs crossed on the porch swing doesn't lift her gaze from the hardcover in her hands. His attention drops to the plate beside her. A triangle half of a sandwich overflowing with meat and lettuce calls to him.

"That looks good. You make one for me?"

Bonnie feigns at being startled, lays her book over her knees. "I'm so sorry. It completely slipped my mind." She reaches for the plate and brings it to her lap, her lips contorting in disappoint at her own actions. "You know if I don't get the recommended eight hours of sleep, I'm a total ditz."

He rubs his tongue behind his molars and absentmindedly beats his fists together. He honestly can't be mad at the girl. It's deserved payback from this morning, and he likes how feisty she's revealed to be. Under Sheila, she could've grown to be some mild-mannered, obedient witch like Jo once was. But annoying her has turned out to be much more tantalizing than he expected. He'll have to get under her skin more often.

"Yeah, it's a wonder you graduated, huh?"

"Total miracle."

She sinks her teeth into the brown bread and her green eyes roll back as if it's the best sandwich she's ever eaten. With only one bite, she sets the plate back down on the side table carved out of a tree stump and goes for a sip of her lemonade, ice cubes clinking against the glass. Kai watches her and doesn't bother to wipe the sweat dripping down his temples and chest.

"You know you'd probably be less hot if you shaved your face."

Hot as in temperature or hot as in sexual appeal, he wonders but keeps his thoughts out of the gutter. Casts his gaze out towards the street. "Clean shaven, I look like Peter Pan and nobody wants that."

It's easier for Jo to get through their Saturday morning sessions when he doesn't look like he did that night in '94, and looking in the mirror sometimes it's easier for him, too. He could trim it a little, though. His moustache is starting to tickle his upper lip.

"Okay, mountain man."

She's proud of herself because the first term that came to her was Oregon Trail, but she can't call him _that_. That would signify she's been paying attention to the very few tidbits he shared about himself – and also the hair trailing down his bare stomach to the lip of his jeans, which she's desperately trying to ignore. She pushes her shades farther up the bridge of her nose to hide her eyes.

Kai turns back to her at the nickname and he battles the smile daring to creep over his face. Her perceived nonchalance is palpable, the book already back in her grasp and her attention no longer on him. She's trying hard to appear unaffected, but why else would she be out here where he is? If her sleep meant so much to her, she could be napping. Or she could be calling or texting her friends a couple towns over. She doesn't know him from Adam, so why the draw?

"What are you doing later?"

She turns a page in her book without having understood a word of the last paragraph. "Stuff. Things," she responds, her voice light and airy. Non-committal.

April's got a full summer of babysitting ahead of her, and Bonnie's hesitant to try and make plans with any of her other friends in Mystic Falls. Elena and Jenna are more than likely wheels down in Europe by now, and after Caroline's outburst Bonnie's not going to be the one groveling into her good graces. Matt's probably working and Jeremy, well, there's no need to lead the younger Gilbert on. He turned out to be good looking under that mop of hair, but she's not interested.

She'd hoped she would get more time to spend with her grandmother before the summer classes started, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Which sucks. She hates being stuck in the house, and now that house isn't even empty.

"Well, when you're done with your stuff and your things… You up for getting a drink with a few people I know?"

" _Your little friends_?"

Yeah, he definitely deserves that one. "Something like that."

Bonnie clears her throat. She rarely turns down drinks because she's a little old-fashioned and she thinks the person who asks is the person who pays. And she'd be lying if she said she wasn't itching to find out more about Kai, gleaning whatever she could from people close to him. But she sighs. "Maybe some other time."

He shrugs, tosses his shirt over his shoulder, and grips his fingers around the door handle. "Whatever you say, Bonnie. Whatever you say."

Kai disappears into the house, and now she's trapped. If she goes inside, then it'll tip him off that she was only outside to watch him, be near him. But she has no real reason to stay here in this spot. Even if this book was a national bestseller and April's been harping on her to read it, she's just not that interested in the missing-presumed-murdered wife and the adulterous husband who looks guiltier page after page.

This is Boston all over again, and way to fall back on old habits. The coy girl at the bar. Playing hard to get is easier in three inch heels and a tight dress. And she got so good at that game. If she wasn't interested, she didn't bother with eye contact. She'd look over their heads or past their shoulders, but never at them.

If they met her surface standards, however, she'd let slip a personal detail or two. Make them think she's sharing a secret no one else knew. She'd tease them about their hair or something about their appearance she knew they worked hard on, just to see if they'd take it in jest and they generally did. At the first allusion of leaving together, she'd throw out how she had to work in the morning or how her friend needed help with something that required only Bonnie's assistance.

Most guys would gulp down their beer but few of them, once she's hooked them, ever give up after the first rejection. They'd keep up the conversation, offer to buy her another of whatever she's drinking in hopes her defenses would crack. They'd try harder, offer up something another guy wouldn't. Usually how they're nursing a recent heartbreak or how they're anxious over a job promotion. Something that'd make them look vulnerable, less predatory. But Bonnie was always the predator in those situations.

This _cannot_ be that.

She lives with Kai, for goodness sake! And if her Grams' has taken over as his primary caregiver, well, the pseudo-familial environment should be enough to douse whatever tiny flame had sparked in her gut.

This would be so much easier if he were less attractive to her, head a little misshapen, eyes closer together or farther apart, torso a lot softer than the hard muscles he's working with. Less charismatic. Gaze a lot less hungry. Or if she didn't have to be bombarded by his presence every minute of every day.

Why couldn't her Grams mentor him remotely? Why'd he have to live with them? If he was just some guy, some outsider like Professor Shane had been, well, she could put Kai in that same category. She didn't want a repeat of Atticus, did she?

She leans her head against the back of the wooden swing and mutters under her breath, " _Fuck._ "

 _Past_

Lucas Parker gapes jaw-dropped at his father. "They can do that? _She_ can do that?" The hand of his twin sister finds his and gives it a squeeze.

"Luke…"

"No, this makes no sense. You raised us for this one thing. You and Mom _had_ us for this one thing, and now you're saying it's not necessary. _Sorry we wasted your time when you could've had a normal life. Have a nice day_?"

"Luke…"

"This smells like bullshit. All of it stinks."

Joshua Parker looks down at the beige carpet at his feet and chooses the diplomatic way of addressing this. "No matter what the rest of us think, it's done. Sheila found a way to successfully merge Kai and Jo's powers without either succumbing to the soul merge. It worked and because it falls in line with tradition, Malachai is now Gemini coven leader."

"How is the council not furious?" Luke spits. His glare shoots over to the quiet pair over by the bookshelf. The coven outsider, Sheila Bennett stands with her hands clasped in front of her, her attention on Joshua. Beside her, Kai leans against the shelving that covers every wall in this office. His father's office. _His_ office…if he wants it to be.

"This isn't a debate and this isn't something that was decided lightly. Sheila and I have gone back and forth on this many times, before we even presented the notion before the council."

The Bennett witch inwardly scoffs. Way to undermine her authority on the matter with her in the same room. Hardly seems worth the flight to Oregon. They could've had this conversation over skype. Getting the council and Jo to agree were undoubtedly the biggest obstacles, but the younger Parker twins are stubborn in their own right.

"I don't like it either, Luke, but this means we don't have to merge. Neither of us has to worry about dying," Olivia appeals. He meets his sister's blue gaze, her halo of curls, and deflates. She means she doesn't have to worry about dying. As strong as Liv and Luke are working together, he always bests her in competition. And with their lives at stake, even if it's to make one powerful leader… They both know which one of them would lose.

"How do we know he won't try to kill us anyway? It's not like there's anyone who could stop him now. Not without taking the rest of us out with him." His bark lacks the bite it had a moment ago, acceptance setting in. He's nothing but steam. He and Liv don't have memories of that night in May when Kai went on his rampage, nor do they have any memories of him at all. But from what they've heard…

Kai shrugs. "Each family in contention is afforded one merge per generation. No other family has had a pair of twins in eighteen years and no you two can't merge to unseat me, so there'd be no point. But if you piss me off, I can't say I wouldn't kill you for funsies."

Sheila pinches his side and he winces. "I'm _kidding_. Mostly."

Having had enough of this, Luke stands. "If Mom were here—" He stops short, seeing how his father and Kai both straighten. No one ever mentions Adelaide Parker, especially not the set of blonde twins who look so much like her.

Joshua's gaze, guilty and bordering on violent, dares him to finish that sentence. His wife died from a medical issue stemming from birthing Liv and Luke. The doctor had warned them that another pregnancy, after having six kids already, could bring about negative effects, but Joshua was so sure they could produce just one more set of twins. That's all they needed for their family to remain the head of the council and to prevent Kai from becoming their next leader, which was technically his birthright if he won. It was his own insistence that killed his wife, and, while he'd never blame his youngest surviving children for her death, there'd been a gaping chance he'd have her standing in front of him instead of his belligerent son.

"Have fun being led by a psychopath." Luke goes to march out the door, but Kai's arm bars him from leaving the room.

He glares down his nose at his shorter, blond brother, the one whose head could've easily been knocked right off his tiny shoulders with the swing of a baseball bat all those years ago. Kai's eyes, though gray not brown like their father's, mirror that murderous ideation.

"Next time you want to bring up Mom like she didn't die because she had you two, just think of all the people who knew her. Dad, Sheila, all those coven elders… Then think of all those people who have to look at your stupid surfer face in place of hers."

"Malachai," both Sheila and Joshua chide.

He drops his arm, holding Luke's fuming gaze, and then gives him a cold smile. "See you around, baby bro."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thank you all so much for the comments on the last chapter! Any BK interaction, any iteration of them in any universe is my favorite thing to write, and this chapter was so much fun I typed it all out in a matter of hours. Wow. Not gonna look a gift house in the mouth because writer's block is a biiiiitch! Not at all surprising but it still creeps up unexpectedly on me how much I love writing Kai. Pre-merge or post-merge. In control of himself or a little unhinged, I love it. He's a fun guy to write for, especially since in this universe there is no merge to "grant" him empathy. I'm excited.


	9. eight

8.

 _Present_

Over a handful of days, Bonnie and Kai fall into a weird pattern. Sheila leaves for work well before eight in the morning and doesn't return home until six in the evening. Bonnie can't bring herself to remain in the same room as Kai for longer than a few minutes and Kai, well. He has enough experience with feeling unwanted and can read the signs pretty clearly. So the two unwittingly start to take turns. If he's in the house, either reading on the couch in the living room or cooking in the kitchen, she spends her time in her room. If he's outside doing yard work or tinkering in his car, she's then free to roam the empty house.

She rearranges her room. Apart from the bed, all the furniture is new. Her personal accents having been rifled through and stored away in boxes in the closet, it's as if she's sleeping in the guestroom of her own house. It's difficult to manage by herself without help, but she turns the heavy bed frame in another direction. With the old cherrywood vanity she used to have, the queen size mattress could only fit comfortably if the headboard was placed north. With that piece of vintage furniture gone, she positions the bed east facing the window, which will shutter natural light over the foot of the bed. It gives her more space and rejuvenates the energy.

She finally unpacks, stuffing clothes she may end up donating into the dresser drawers. Not bothering to decorate the still bare walls, she scatters her crystals and smudge stick on one bedside table, stacks her meager book collection atop the dresser, and replaces those now empty boxes in the closet with her shoes.

When Wednesday rolls around, boxes start arriving. All her clothes and effects she shipped from Boston. She gave April the pick of the litter when it came to their furniture, and whatever neither wanted Bonnie sold for cash. What arrives are trinkets and whatever she didn't want to pay her airline to send. Kai's there to receive the packages and even offers to help Bonnie carry them to her room. She's prideful but the last thing she wants is to hurt herself with the 50+ pound boxes, so she obliges.

He lugs them one by one up the stairs to the second floor and deposits them at her open door. After the last box is set down, he notices her redecorating and he hums. "Looks good," he compliments and leaves her to it. Most of her belongings can be unloaded, some stuff she leaves in the box to take to Goodwill, but she can't unpack her clothes yet. A handful of Kai's are pushed to the back of her small closet and far as she can guess he hasn't gotten an armoire yet like he told her. She can only slide those boxes across the carpet to the far wall and wait.

The only real hiccup comes in the form of sharing the only bathroom in the townhouse. It's a few steps outside of Bonnie's bedroom, which is convenient for her for the times she's hiding. Her habitual morning showers after Sheila leaves and Kai's busied himself for the day don't collide with his evening showers, but because they have each other's bodily schedules down to a science.

Like, now.

After dinners, Bonnie spends more time downstairs than she does during the day because she really misses being around her grandmother. They carry their conversation about her studies from the kitchen island – her favorite place to eat while Kai always eats standing – to the living room. At some point during her musing about graduate school and the likelihood of her returning to Boston, Kai disappears. He doesn't say anything to bring attention to his departure, she just belatedly realizes he's no longer there soaking up her words behind the guise of polite conversation.

Eventually she and Sheila feel the draw to turn in for the night. Kai cooked chicken spinach alfredo with mushrooms, omitting the onions from the original recipe, and the meal albeit delicious sits heavier on them than expected. She helps the older woman up the stairs and hugs her goodnight. Bonnie, feeling the growing effects of cabin fever, mournfully sighs as she walks to her room. She goes to shut herself in when she remembers to brush her teeth.

Opening her door to the hallway, she's met by a wet and topless Kai, shower water dripping from strands of his dark hair. A large periwinkle towel encircles his hips in weak defiance of gravity. She's struck silent by the sight, unsure how to form words and what those words should be.

"I left my clothes downstairs. I keep forgetting I don't live across the hall anymore." He juts his chin towards Bonnie's room. Her eyes widen at the idea of him nearly naked breezily crossing the small space to her room. His tall form, however unassuming when clothed, laying down on her bed, her mattress conforming to its memory of his body.

 _Get your shit together_ , she mentally chastises. She shared public showers with strange guys her first two years in college. She's seen shirtless, she's even seen naked at times she did not want or expect to.

Blinking, she snaps out of it. "You're fine. I just wanted to brush my teeth."

He gives her a tight smile, pursed lips, and scoots past her into the hallway and down the staircase. Once he's out of sight, she exhales. She locks herself in the bathroom, enveloped in the steam of his shower and the overall warmth and scent that is Kai. It makes her dizzy.

Her back pressed to the door like her legs would give out without its support, she decides right then. She needs to get the fuck out of this house. She needs a job.

Waking up earlier than she'd like in hopes of catching her Grams before she leaves for campus, she finds Sheila in the kitchen. She sips from her mug of coffee, reads the newspaper, and absentmindedly pulls the silver chain of her necklace back and forth. She's in a gray linen dress that sweeps the linoleum, and that tugs at something inside Bonnie. If she thought on it long enough, she'd recognize it as purpose. Having something worth doing, worth getting dressed up for.

The most effort Bonnie has put into looking presentable these days is putting on some pants before she leaves her room. Her and April had no qualms walking around in their bras and panties, but Kai is not April. Other than going out to bars and clubs, her barista gig at the campus café, and whatever internship she had for the semester, she never had a reason to get dressed up.

Sheila speaks without looking up. "You're up earlier than usual, baby."

"I wanted to catch you before you left."

There must be something in her voice, because Sheila sets down her mug and focuses her attention on her granddaughter. "What is it?" She waves her hand before Bonnie can jump in. "Malachai and I have already compromised about the yard work. No engines before nine am."

Surprised, her eyebrows quirk up. She hadn't realized they'd had a conversation about her and Kai's disagreement, and that niggles at her a little. Even living in the same household, there are things being said behind her back. She shakes her head of the thought.

"Nothing's wrong. And it's fine. Kai can do whatever he needs to do however loud and irritating it may be. I don't know why it bothered me so much. But…" Thinking of how to broach the topic, she clasps her hands and bites her lip.

She steps closer and leans against the island instead of sitting on her stool. "Are you looking for a teaching assistant?"

Sheila narrows her gaze. "You thinking of re-enrolling in Whitmore, Bonnie?"

"Well, no."

"Because only students can be TAs."

"Right, I just thought… What about an admin assistant in your department?"

"Now, you know Kelly is going to be running my office until she keels over. That'll be a job someone will pry from her cold, dead fingers." Sheila sips her coffee. "Why the sudden interest in Whitmore?"

"I'm going to lose my mind if I stay in this house all summer. I need to find a job to keep me busy and I figure maybe if there's an opening there I could just ride to work with you."

"You need a car."

" _Desperately_."

"Have you spoken to your father about this?"

"That's exactly what I was trying to avoid," she mutters, cutting her eyes away. She'd thought on that avenue, but going to her father is her road less traveled.

"Bonnie…"

"No, you're right. Besides, Rudy kind of owes me."

"The relationship between a father and his daughter should not be predicated on slights and who owes what to whom. You have a need and, if it's within his reach, he should be willing to provide."

Bonnie has no moody retort to that, and Sheila knows it. As absent a father as he has always been, Bonnie's never been one to want for much. Their occasional phone calls often end with him asking, "Are you sure you don't need anything?" For her first two years of school, he paid for her meal plan while she lived on campus and, after she and April got their apartment, he sent her money each month to help offset bills. Of course she needed extra funds living in the cold, northern city but she rarely set her pride aside long enough to ask. He did anyway.

"The only thing my father gives me is a hard time," Kai's voice floats in from the living room.

"Have you met you?" is Bonnie's quick reply. She receives one of his unflappable grins as he turns the corner, and he snatches an apple from the fruit bowl and rummages through the fridge for the ingredients to make breakfast. He's feeling like French toast this morning.

"Call your father. He might surprise you." Sheila places her mug in the sink and tucks the newspaper under her arm. "See you both at dinner."

Their eyes follow the Bennett matriarch as she breezes out of the kitchen and listen for the front door to open and then close. They stand in silence.

"I'm making French toast," Kai says unprompted, removing the carton of eggs from the fridge. Bonnie's closest to the loaf of white bread and his eyes flicker to it. "Wanna help?"

She pushes the bread in his direction but sucks her teeth, her mind already on vacating the room as quickly as possible. "Maybe another time."

"Bonnie." Her name spoken in the low timbre of his voice halts her. "Look. If I did something to you, I apologize."

Confused, she turns back to face him. There's a shift in the air and suddenly the Kai who stood before her wearing only a towel last night is a very different Kai than the one cracking brown eggs into a ceramic bowl. His aura is less massive, instead focused in intensity. On her.

"You didn't."

"Then why the cold shoulder? You've been avoiding me all week. If I hurt your feelings, you gotta tell me. Seriously. I get caught up and so wrapped in my own thoughts sometimes, I don't always notice how I affect other people."

Her eyebrows bounce in pleasant surprise. "That's a healthy dose of self-awareness."

"It's not without practice," he mumbles, recalling all his sessions with Sheila. "But, really. I mean it. You have to tell me."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Kai. I'm…I'm just getting used to you is all."

"By holing yourself up in your room?" He hums, flipping a slice of bread in the cinnamon and sugar egg wash. "Makes sense. You're sharing your house and your grandmother with a stranger who you've already encountered shirtless. Twice."

The corner of his mouth quivers because he knows he makes her nervous. He just wishes her possible attraction to him was the only reason she'd ever have to be skittish around him.

She rolls her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm just keeping my distance, hoping to figure out your weakness, and then exploit it the next time you interrupt my beauty sleep."

He rinses his fingers in the sink then wipes them on a maroon dishcloth before walking around the island to Bonnie. At his quick approach, she backs against the dining room table. He invades her space, barely a few inches between them. Immediately she catches a whiff of the masculine scent that engulfed her in the bathroom last night.

"If you really want to know my weakness…you'll actually have to spend time with me."

He then reaches around her and retrieves a grapefruit from the fruit bowl. He goes back to his side of the kitchen, cuts the globe into quarters, places it in a bowl, and slides it and the ceramic sugar dish in Bonnie's direction. "You have to eat."

She wordlessly takes the offering and then flees to her room.

 _x_

"I'm really glad you called me."

"Yeah." Bonnie opens her napkin and places it across her lap, the hem of her denim shorts tucking where her hips and thighs meet. The café is populated with studious types. Students grabbing lunch between their summer classes and young professionals having business meetings over brunch mimosas.

And then there's her and Rudy.

As if he isn't going to default to his go-to meal of black coffee and eggs Benedict, he looks over the menu.

"I was talking to Grams this morning and-"

"How is Sheila?"

"She's fine. She and I were-"

"And the guy, what's his name again?"

"Kai? He's fine, too?" She reaches for her cardigan which slides down her arm and pulls it up.

"You know, I was surprised when she told me she'd taken in her friend's son. But I guess raising kids is just something some people are used to doing."

"Must seem so foreign to you."

He chuckles to himself, as if the jab wasn't intended to draw blood. "How's the coffee here?"

"It's fine. Dad, look, I-"

"Oh, look, Bon. They use free range eggs. One would think there's no difference in taste when it comes to free range and regular factory produced, but there is."

"Damn it, Rudy."

Rudy finally looks up from his menu and takes in the frazzled expression of his only daughter who just called him by his given name. She's called him that before but never to his face. She exhales a gust of frustrated air. "I need a car. I need a job but have to have a way to get there. Please," she tacks on that last word as a balm for her outburst.

"Well, of course, bunny. Why didn't you just say so?"

Their waitress appears and asks if they're ready to order. While Rudy orders the exact meal Bonnie knew he would, she asks for their largest carafe of mimosa and avocado toast.

The remainder of their brunch goes by in relative silence, with only questions about the quality of the other's entrees. Rudy pays and leaves a tip while Bonnie gathers her to-go hazelnut iced coffee. They walk outside and he offers to give her a ride back to the townhouse. "I'm okay. I'll walk. It's only a couple of blocks, and I could use the sunshine after being cooped up in the house all week."

He nods, buttons his lips in what he means to be a tight smile. "Give me a few days on the car situation, bunny."

"Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it. Really. I _hate_ asking."

Overcome with emotion, he pulls his daughter into a hug. "I know I'm not the best at being there or being present for you, but it doesn't mean I love you any less than you deserve."

The admission stuns Bonnie, who goes limp in her father's embrace. "Yeah. Love you, too, Dad."

He releases her, gives her one last smile, and heads toward the parking lot. She watches as he drives away in his black cadillac, her face dropping into a grimace once he's turned the corner out of sight. Annoyed, she shrugs off her sweater and starts toward her neighborhood.

She's always tried to be accomodating to her father's career. As a government contractor in a department with a clearance level so high he can't tell her what he actually does for a living, it makes sense that he's rarely around. When she was little, it was kind of cool. He'd bring her home gifts from all over the world and show her pictures of all the places he got to visit. The older she got, though, the more his absence hurt. She could never attend Daddy-Daughter dances. Her Grams couldn't often take off from teaching to be a chaperone on field trips like Elena's mom did.

Even recently, Rudy missed both of Bonnie's graduations and never once bothered to visit her in Massachusetts. Sure, he helped out financially, but how was that any different than a man paying child support while he gets to keep living his life?

By the time she gets home, she crackling with magic. It rolls off her bare shoulders in waves, which are doused the moment she steps through the front door.

She notices this change, remembers how she was so nervous about coming home the other day that her powers messed with the radio in April's car. But inside, it's been normal. Her anxiety has her stomach flipping but that's it. No spontaneous flames or shattered light bulbs.

"No magic in the house."

Kai is cleaning, a cloth in one hand hovering near the window overlooking the front yard. He picks up the bottle of windex and sprays the blue solution at the glass.

"What?"

"I mean, there's no use of magic inside. Sheila's got a no-magic barrier that covers every square inch of this townhouse. From the basement to the attic." Pausing to meet her inquiring eyes, he balls the cloth in his fist. "Go ahead. Try to light a candle. Make something levitate. Anything."

She chews on her straw. Should she test it? If he's right, she'll feel embarrassed, but he could just be baiting her into using her powers. He is the leader of his coven after all. He might just want to know the strength of the witch sleeping in his old room.

As if he can read her thoughts, he chuckles. "I'm not trying to trick you. Your grandmother really did spell the house. _Witches mustn't become overly dependent on their magic lest they one day find themselves without it._ And yes, she really used the words 'mustn't' and 'lest'."

"It wasn't like that before."

"Well, there's one thing in this place that wasn't here before, Bon."

" _You_."

He winks. "Bingo."

She folds her arms across her chest, what's left of her coffee and melting ice cubes swishing in the plastic cup. "What did you do that was so bad Grams doesn't want you to use magic? You break her bone China?"

"Too easy. But, no. It's a long story."

"All your stories are long stories." She goes for the stairs.

Tailing after her, he crosses the room and calls up after her. "How'd it go with Rudy?"

"It went."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," she throws over her shoulder halfway to the second floor.

"You wanna spar?"

Furrowing her brow, Bonnie stops. She turns on her heel and descends until she's a few steps from the bottom. Kai smirks from his spot leaning against the bannister. "I thought we couldn't do magic in the house."

He shrugs. "Never said anything about the backyard."

Bonnie may have holed herself up in her room, but Kai would never choose isolation if there's a second option. In between mowing lawns and cutting hedges, cooking and cleaning, and messing with the wiring in his car, Kai had been practicing. As coven leader, it was on him to write the next edition of the Gemini master grimoire. He had copies of his father's and could readily access those of previous leaders, but he wasn't about to shirk on this opportunity. Not after all those years locked away with nothing to do but study.

Tucked in the passenger seat of his Monte Carlo, he'd write out spells in a flimsy composition book, jotting down as much detail as he could remember, and then practiced them. If he got tripped up, he'd ask Sheila to double check his work. Make sure he listed all the ingredients and got the sequences right. When he knew he'd mastered a spell, he'd transfer it to the giant leather bound book he kept under one of his pillows.

With Bonnie here, it might be nice to have someone to bounce some of his more…unconventional ideas off of.

"Won't the neighbors see?" she wonders, curiosity coloring her inquiry.

Kai tilts his head to one side. The way the week has gone, he wasn't sure that suggestion would've enticed her all that much. She and Sheila talk a lot about schooling and Boston and how little Whitmore has changed, but Bonnie's never brought up the subject of magic. Not with Kai around at least.

He began to convince himself she'd given it up like his twin had. With the exception of his ability to siphon magic, he spent so much of his life without powers. Now, he could scarcely imagine life without it. Bonnie's eagerness tells him one if not two things. She's clearly attracted to magic same as he is but may be hiding just how much from her grandmother.

"Not if we don't want them to…"

 _Past_

Rudolph Hopkins is a sturdy man. Six foot two and built like he played football in college, he's not easily intimidated nor does he feel the need to prove he's worth his salt in whatever room he occupies. So when Kai spells him across the room with a simple "motus", naturally Rudy's large body cracks the closed front door into three splintered pieces.

Sheila, shaken by the sudden attack, crosses her arms and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Malachai…"

Still new to the ways of this world and having self-generating magic, he frowns at her exasperation. "What, you told him to leave!"

"And he was going to."

"Not quick enough." He shrugs as Sheila goes over to help her former son-in-law to his feet. The older man sways against her for a moment, feeling out his body for any breaks or sprains. The spell took him by surprise, so he didn't have time to tense which might've done him some good. Apart from an aching back, he feels fine.

Sheila looks expectantly at the younger man, her brow arching. He screws his face. "I have to apologize? Me? After what he just said about you?"

"I won't ask twice."

"You didn't ask the first time," he grumbles loud enough for her to hear. "I'm sorry, Rudolph."

"For?" Sheila prompts, swatting wood chips off the back of Rudy's blazer.

Kai rolls his eyes. "For defending Sheila when you compared her to your deadbeat, runaway wife."

He'd only been eavesdropping from the kitchen. Rudy stopped by because he was in town on business and assumed Bonnie would be home for one of her few breaks from school. Upon arriving, he met Kai. Sheila introduced him as the son of a family friend she'd taken under her wing.

Though their conversation was short, Rudy informed Sheila that he'd seen Abby. On his latest business trip, he'd been in line at a gas station when his ex-wife walked through the door. The woman he'd known as Abigail Bennett was now twenty years later Abby Wilson, her adult step-son Jamie outside at their truck waiting for her to pay so he could fill up.

He thought he'd let his daughter know if only for the simple fact that her mother was still alive. No one really knew after some time. But seeing how Sheila allowed Bonnie to flee Virginia and instead of chasing after her she decided to find another kid witch to shape, he saw where Abby got the idea.

While she appreciated the update, Sheila said it would be better if he didn't tell Bonnie and it'd be best if he left. That stung in a way he often didn't let show. He'd trusted his mother-in-law, the woman his daughter was named after, to care for Bonnie. Raise her like her own when his career took him elsewhere. He hoped Sheila would provide a safe place for her, and instead she'd ran away to the north. Now, in her stead, this young white boy was getting the security and education Bonnie was not.

As if he was the one slighted, Rudy flared his nose and took a step forward. That's when Kai striked, rounding the corner and throwing his hand out at the burly man.

"That's not a real apology and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure we'll talk about it in therapy tomorrow morning."

Dusting off his shoulders, Rudy frowns. "I suppose I deserved that."

Sheila shakes her head, affording him, "No, you didn't" while simultaneously Kai snorts, "Yeah, you did."

"I couldn't hold Bonnie hostage in this townhouse, Rudy," she starts. "Just like you couldn't hold Abby hostage in a marriage. I've always wanted better for her, both of them. Perhaps my mistake is not in moving away from Mystic Falls, but having not done it sooner when Abby was young."

Sheila saw her granddaughter going down the same path her own daughter had walked. Using the powers the spirits had given her to protect herself to then support others - namely Isobel Flemming and Miranda Sommers. When Abby drove the vampire Mikael out of town to protect the young Elena Gilbert, Sheila didn't like it but she understood. But when she never came back…

She was determined to not lose Bonnie the same way. Even if that meant poisoning her against the tiny town and letting her pack her things for a new life far away from Virginia. Even now, with her daughter's absent father standing in judgement of her, Sheila stands by her decisions.

Rudy turns his chocolate gaze to Kai. He assumed him to be some vagrant, but the way he just defended Sheila is admirable. "No need to apologize, son. I was out of line. I'm sorry, Sheils."

The woman nods and props on the balls of her feet to place a kiss on Rudy's cheek. "No harm, no foul."

He accepts her grace and bids his farewell. The cracked door swings on its hinges as he walks out, and Kai steps forward to stand next to Sheila. "I don't get apologizing when you don't really mean it."

"It's the principle of the thing."

"Standing on principle is a good way to end up looking like a doofus."

The older woman breathes out slowly, praying for strength to not give up on the confused young man. "Now, about my door…"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Catch me in the BK discord server actin' up and getting my life and all the motivation and inspiration I need to keep writing/living my best life. And can I just say...this holiday season, please please please leave a review on your favorite author's fics. Idc about my stuff... I'm lying, I do care, but there are some bombass writers in this fandom who pump out their life's blood for this ship, so let them know whenever you get the chance. BK Secret Santa gifts are soon to be posted and I know the content is about to be fire!


	10. nine

9.

 _Present_

"All right, Bonster. You ready?"

In his left hand, Kai holds a red beanbag. In his right, a wooden baseball bat which he's currently leaning on. They're going to practice some spells. Specifically, Kai's going to watch Bonnie fuck some shit up.

She pulls her long hair back into a low ponytail then twists and wraps the blonde strands until they form a bun at the base of her head. The sweater she took to brunch rests at the backdoor steps. The silky royal purple camisole she wears billows lightly in the wind, her skin absorbing the midday rays of the sun. She's got an effortless kind of beauty and Kai wonders if she knows that.

She squints and holds her right hand out at the ready. "Bring it."

He whistles. "Okay…" He gets in his own stance. Facing her from across the yard, he tosses the beanbag up in his palm before throwing it straight up in the air and swings the bat. They collide, sending it in Bonnie's direction. With her brows furrowed together, she mutters "phesmatos incendia" at the approaching object and it bursts into flames in the air. Sidestepping the ashes flying straight for her, she watches the smoldering pile land where she moments ago stood then she raises an arched eyebrow at Kai.

"Yeah, I didn't think that one completely through. Maybe we leave the fire for inert objects?"

"Ya think?" she replies. He tosses up another beanbag and strikes it with an impressive swing. This time Bonnie whispers "vatos", and it explodes raining tiny plastic beads down on her. She snorts, wondering what else she expected to happen, before convulsing in laughter.

Kai watches, both amused and impressed. He hasn't gotten to see her lighter side since she's been here. She's so suspicious and taken aback by all the things that are different. It would seem that magic is the one thing that allows her to be genuine.

"How about we try something that doesn't result in me getting pelted?" She shakes her tank, a few beads falling from her bra.

He resumes his earlier position, rests his weight on the bat. "What do you have in mind?"

Buttoning her lips, she turns to her left and then in the other direction as she takes in the whole of the backyard. There are tan picket fences separating their lush green lawn from the neighbors'. There, near the doors that open down into the basement, is Sheila's old garden. She strides over to the plot of dirt and withered bulbs and kneels.

Dropping the bat, Kai comes up beside her, his brows knitting together. She's already muttering by the time he's within earshot. "... _plantus vivifey, plantus herbus. Phasmatos tribum, plantus vivifey_ , _plantus herbus_." A brown stem transforms back to its green state, the tulip bulb revived. Bonnie opens her eyes and smirks up at Kai.

"Well, now I have to unroot the whole thing," he says, folding his arms across his chest, to which Bonnie's smile drops. "Sheila's garden is supposed to be magic-free. Thriving, or not, with only the use of an ol' green thumb, ya know."

She sighs. "Now you're just making shit up."

That plot of garden was crafted with the intention of Bonnie learning elemental spells. They installed it maybe their third week in the townhouse. Bonnie had stopped giving her Grams the silent treatment by then because she missed their magic lessons.

Kai silently blinks in disappointment, and so Bonnie's response is to mutter "incendia" and watch the yellow flower go up in flames. She gets to her feet, wipes the dirt off her bare knees, and turns toward the house. Immediately, Kai wilts. "I'm sorry, Bonnie. I was _joking_. Really."

They do a little dance, her spinning in frustration to face him and his arms outstretched, his hands ready to fall on her shoulders but he doesn't dare touch her. "Well, you're not funny. I just destroyed a perfectly good flower." For effect, she glances back at the garden and waves her hand, a silent spell to douse the small fire.

He bites back the smile threatening to brighten his face. If he had to put money on it, Kai would bet Bonnie loves the incantations that result in fire. It could be that candle lighting was her first foray into magic or that's simply her personality. Fiery. And he likes getting under her skin. Anyone else wouldn't be worth the effort, but her… He doesn't tell her that, though.

"Let's try something else. I've been working on a spell I need help with."

Bonnie's nostrils flare. Their back and forth feels like Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt, only it's Bonnie going to kick the football and Kai's the one yanking it away. "What is it?"

His hands move to make a show of peace, palms facing out to her, and he saunters away to his car. She huffs. Through the open window, he retrieves his notebook and flips through the thin pages until he finds what he's looking for. He returns to Bonnie and hands it to her, his eyes dissecting her expression as she reads over the process. Her lips soundlessly murmur over the enchantment before quirking up at the corners.

"You forgot your binding agent."

Kai's jaw drops. "You're kidding." She flips the notebook back to him and he runs down his list of ingredients. Glaringly obvious is his omission of salt. He grins back at her. "I could kiss you right now."

Green eyes widen and she takes a noticeable step backwards, but Kai's already halfway to his car where he left his pen. Craning her neck side to side to release tension, Bonnie shakes out her arms. Why is she letting this guy make her nervous?

It's been a while since she had a chance to practice her magic with another person. She was a junior in high school when two black men showed up on their doorstep here in Whitmore. Bonnie sat reading a novel for her English class in her chair in the living room while Sheila spoke in hushed tones with the men on the porch. She made eye contact with the younger man through the window, a light-skinned guy with a shaved head and a dark mole just to the right of his nose. His eyes were conflicted but somehow still kind. Her Grams ended up turning them both away and refused to give Bonnie any details as to who they were, how they found her, or what they wanted.

A few years later, she bumped into the same guy on her way to her Anatomy and Physiology lab. He introduced himself as Luka Martin, a "warlock" whose father once asked the Bennetts for help finding his daughter. Luka's sister Greta had gotten mixed up with a very bad vampire and they were trying to save her. When Bonnie asked whatever became of his sister, his gaze turned downward. A gasp caught in her throat. They'd asked for help, her Grams said no, and a woman, a witch, was dead because of it.

From there they struck up an unlikely friendship. Bonnie thought he'd hold what happened to Greta against her, but that wasn't the case. While, yes, they were trying to save her, they'd also been hired by a vampire to foil whatever mess she'd gotten herself into. From her conversation with Caroline about the Original vampires, the names Niklaus and Elijah now made more sense. Elijah Mikaelson hired the Martins to remove Greta from the equation so the Sun and Moon Curse couldn't be broken but reneged at the last moment in the interest of saving his own brother. In the chaos that claimed Katherine Pierce, Hayley Marshall, and momentarily took Elena's life, Greta Martin was also killed.

Once they moved past their momentarily crossed paths, Bonnie was elated to find another magical person to practice with. Someone who understood that part of her. And it helped that he was exceedingly good looking even with a bald head. He was her sparring partner, renting out a warehouse in the industrial district so they could properly practice. Elemental and offensive spells. They'd craft psychometry incantations and invocations all while telling April and Grams and Luka's father they were studying chemistry.

After a semester of getting very close, they hooked up one night in her dorm when April was at the library. It was the first time they'd even kissed, though they both had been dying to for months, and while neither were virgins that was also the first time either had slept with another witch. He really meant something to Bonnie, so waking up the following morning to a note on her pillow saying he had to go to New Orleans was a bitter, bitter pill.

She never heard from him again.

Sparring with Kai feels different than it did with Luka. Bonnie can tell he's holding back. Or maybe he's testing her to see how powerful she is before he shows his hand.

"Hey," she calls after Kai. "Why do you let Grams call you by your full name?"

"Old habits die hard, I guess."

"What if _I_ called you Malachai?"

He snorts. He doesn't hate the way it sounds rolling off her tongue, as if it's a precious gem. However, with the exception of Sheila, everyone who calls him by his official title of Malachai Parker are people who don't _know_ him. His coven elders and members, his father… No, he would like Bonnie to know him.

He turns to face her and leans his back on the side of his car. "Only if I get to call you Bon Bon."

She shudders then chuckles humorlessly. "Please don't."

A vibrate jolts her. She pulls her phone from her back pocket and reads the screen. Jeremy sent a group text to her and April: _Bonfire at the Falls! BYOB_

April quickly responds: _Thirsty Thursday? I'm there! Bon?_

"Bon?"

"Huh?" She looks up, the message having completely disengaged her from the present. Kai's looking at her expectantly. He'd asked her a question. "I'm sorry, what?"

He tosses his notebook to the passenger seat. "I asked if you wanted to go grab a drink with me."

"Uh…" That's the second time he's asked in a handful of days and normally she wouldn't turn him down twice. She scratches her scalp. "There's actually a bonfire tonight at the falls. In Mystic Falls."

"Oh." His expression schools into a passive mask. "Okay."

Stuffing her phone into her back pocket, she approaches him. "You wanna go?"

"I think we both can agree I make an awkward tag-along."

"No, believe it or not, I think I'd rather you come with me? April will be there, but we're not really close with my old friends anymore."

He tightens his jaw and throws his eyes to the ground. "I dunno, Bon…"

She stops a yard away from him and props her hand on her hip. "What happened to getting to know each other? C'mon, we both need to get out of the house."

Meeting her bright gaze, he chews on his cheek. He'd promised Sheila he'd have dinner ready and he doesn't usually leave Whitmore unsupervised. But he'd be with Bonnie… And that would give them more time together. She's biting her lip in anticipation and he doesn't really want to say no. So he doesn't.

He heaves a defeated sigh. "Okay, sure."

Bonnie's wide mouth drops open in shock. She hadn't expected him to say yes so easily. "Okay! I'm going to change. Will you be ready in an hour?"

"An hour?" He blanches. "I thought you said bonfire, not a ball."

"Um, I have to dig through my boxes of clothes since there's no room in my closet to hang them up. _Hint, hint_."

"Oh, so it's my fault you take so long to get ready?"

"I'm just stating a fact," she cheekily replies.

He shakes his head. "No, you're right." He slaps the top of his car and marches to the house. Bonnie trails him, questioning him along the way. They rush through the back door, stride down the hallway between the kitchen and staircase, take the stairs two at a time until they're upstairs. Kai turns the knob to Bonnie's room and steps inside. His abrupt stop almost makes Bonnie run into the back of him.

He turns to his left and notes the two large cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other in the corner. He "hmph" then moves to the closet. Sliding the white wooden doors open, he reaches for the hangers with his clothes and yanks them out.

"You don't have to do that. I was joking. They're fine. I can wait."

"No, no," Kai argues, folding the heap of material over his arm. "This is your room. And I will not be responsible for tardiness."

"You do way too much, you know that?"

"Am I what the kids call _extra_?" He'd heard Liv use the term once or twice.

Bonnie can't help but snort at the colloquialism. "You are so extra!"

He takes in her smile, glad that it's at his own expense, and grins back. When they've been staring at each other for what feels like too long, Bonnie averts her eyes to the clothes he's holding. "I don't have any hangers."

Kai rolls his gray eyes to the ceiling. "Now you're just being greedy."

He disappears and Bonnie watches him go. When she no longer hears his heavy footsteps, she texts Jeremy and April that she'll be there.

 _x_

They ride with the windows down, the wind whipping Bonnie's hair around. As she speaks, she twists the tendrils between her nimble fingers fashioning a single golden braid. She changed into a peachy floral skater dress with capped sleeves, the stretchy cotton soft on her skin. Kai's traded his cargo shorts for black jeans, a plain grey t-shirt, and converses. Once her hair's tamed, she straps up her sandals. She's not too cute to remember the shore of the falls is rocky and sandy as hell. No reason to wear heels or wedges unless she wants a broken ankle.

"What about Motown?"

Kai throws her a sideways glance. "Seriously?"

"What? Some people have a different definition of classics."

"Not me."

"Mm, country?"

He makes a face at the road ahead. "I mean, Dolly Parton and Hank Williams Jr. both had their day. But the whole _my dog died and wife left me_ shtick just doesn't sit."

Bonnie makes a face. "You realize you're south of the Mason-Dixon line living here, right?"

"Is that a race thing?"

"I'm just saying…"

"Okay, Casey Kasem, what about you? Are you top forties, strictly nineties? You look like you were into Janet Jackson."

He's not wrong. "Grams listened to Motown. My dad listened to everything from The Beatles and Nina Simone to New Kids On the Block, and my mom left behind a pretty sweet eighties, nineties hip-hop and rap collection. I think I still have the cassettes in the basement somewhere."

"You ever hear from her? Your mom?"

She wistfully glances out the window, deeply inhales the summer breeze. "Nah. I wouldn't be surprised if she died a long time ago."

Kai doesn't respond to that, but Bonnie's not done grilling him. They're both pretty similar in the music department, though his knowledge is pretty stuck in the 80s and early 90s. He doesn't seem to be a big fan of much music past the turn of the century. "Madonna."

"Eh."

"Lady Gaga."

"Who?"

"David Bowie."

"Always."

"Prince?"

"For him, I definitely would."

That earns him a hearty laugh from the passenger seat. "So basically you've got the musical taste of a forty year old man."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." He flashes her white toothed smile.

The car turns off the main highway. Tires spin rocks and sand as they rumble down the dirt road to the falls. In the distance, the bass of a song of an unidentifiable genre blares. Bonnie's stomach flips and she hates that. Her and Kai had a nice ride with entertaining conversation. Not once did they get on each other's nerves, but now that ease is quickly depleting.

Kai notices her anxiety tick up, the lights on his dashboard flickering. Does she even know how strong her magic is? Most witches don't affect their environment the way Bonnie seems to. He parallel parks between two oak trees and idles. "There's no shame in turning around and going home."

Confusion colors her face. What makes him think she wants to go home? And why does the word "home" from his lips sound more appealing than it did just days ago? Her eyes dart to the lights of his radio dimming and brightening and she gets her answer to at least one question. "I'm fine."

He raises his eyebrows in a skeptical look but says nothing. Killing the engine and tucking his keys in the visor, he gets out and rounds the large brown hood of his car to open her door. She steps out and tugs at the hem of her dress, the heat and humidity of summer causing her thighs to stick together. "Okay, one more and then we can go. Nirvana?"

Kai pushes out a gust of air and shoves his hands in his front pockets. He looks everywhere but at her. "Bonnie, I don't know how to tell you this but… I'm much more of a Hole fan."

"Courtney Love?" She scoffs. "That totally changes my view of you."

"Is that good or bad?"

She smirks and walks off. Amused and admittedly a little turned on, Kai grabs the six pack Bonnie bought from the gas station and shuts the passenger side door. "Bon, is that good or bad?"

 _x_

April and Jeremy find Bonnie and Kai nursing their drinks by the treeline. With the sun setting and the bonfire raging, there is a warm glow cast over the grounds. Bonnie sips a hard cider, her body turned toward Kai in an effort to both scope out any familiar faces and hide herself from anyone recognizing her. They idly chat more about music, but their attention is on people watching.

"Bon!" April shrieks, hugging her best friend around the waist. Bonnie sways from the force but rights herself. Jeremy strides beside them, clinks his Bud Lite against Kai's own bottle of hard cider. Kai squints. "We've been looking all over for you. Oh, hiya Kai."

The Parker witch smirks like he's got a secret but he swallows his amusement by sipping his drink. "April. Nice to see you again."

"Ah, he speaks!"

"He actually talks a lot," Bonnie chimes in. "It's almost impossible to get him to shut up."

She can make fun at his expense. He can take it.

April bends forward, the backside hem of her red polka dot sundress riding up, and snatches a hard cider. "Ya mind?" Bonnie shakes her head. Yeah, her friend is either very stressed by being home or she started drinking before she came out here.

The two young women catch up because, even though they text every day, they haven't gone this long without seeing each other in a while. The men stand sentry. The Parker witch isn't too interested in anything Jeremy could say and he hopes Bonnie doesn't expect him to be overly cordial. He'd rather have food poisoning - from both ends.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh _shit_ ," April cries. "I can't remember where I left my cell phone. Jer, did I leave it in the car?"

Without pretense the two leave as swiftly as they came, and Bonnie breathes out audibly. "Your friend is…"

"A mess, yeah," she concedes. "I still love her to pieces, though." She takes another swig and spots Caroline on the other side of the bonfire. She's standing beside Stefan and a man who Bonnie belatedly recognizes as Damon Salvatore. Caroline catches her eye and makes a beeline for her.

"Bonnie Bennett, look who decided to grace us with her presence." Caroline sweeps Bonnie in an almost bone crushing hug. "I am so sorry about the other night. I don't know why I was so bitchy. It's not like I have a time of the month anymore."

She releases the little witch and places both hands on her hips. She dons a pink bikini top and daisy dukes, the strings of the matching bikini bottoms peeking out from her shorts. Her blue eyes bounce from Bonnie to Kai. "I know you. You're Sheila's shadow."

 _Better than a leech,_ Kai thinks to himself as he smiles at the passive aggressive blonde. "That'd be me."

"Bonnie, I didn't know you were bringing a date," Caroline stage-whispers.

It's not as if she knew Bonnie was even coming, but Bonnie pushes the mental chide aside. "Me neither. Is that…" She points. "That's not who I think it is, is it?"

Caroline turns at the waist even though she knows exactly who Bonnie's talking about. "That most certainly is. With Elena out of the country, the brothers are like a package deal or something. At least with _her,_ it's easier to share custody."

Damon gestures to them and the blonde vampire huffs. She goes to march over, but Bonnie grabs her wrist. "I know I've been gone for forever, but… You don't have to be around him if you don't want to."

Misty blue eyes meet thoughtful green ones, and Caroline smiles. "Trust me. I never do anything I don't want to anymore." Steeling herself to return to the Salvatores, she takes a deep breath and tosses her hair over her shoulder. "I hope you guys brought your bathing suits, because the water's really nice this time of night."

Bonnie and Kai watch her saunter away. Neither know what to say. Gaze still on the three vampires on the other side of the clearing, Kai tilts his head in Bonnie's direction. "It's not too late to cut and run. I don't think anyone will miss us too much."

She looks up at him and she gets an idea. Tossing back the rest of her hard cider, she discards the empty bottle and reaches for the hem of her dress. She lifts it up and over her head revealing a seamless pair of bright blue panties and a matching bra. The thought to bring a bikini never crossed her mind, but it's been so long since she swam in the river.

Kai's mind goes blank looking down at Bonnie. He gulps. Her panties sit low on her hips and cut right across the cheeks of her ass like the underwear company suddenly ran out of fabric. She's got a devious glint in her eyes and it doesn't take a genius to figure out where her mind is at. He, too, knocks back the rest of his drink, pulls off his shirt and kicks off his shoes. Getting out of his jeans is a little less graceful, but Bonnie teems with excitement that she didn't have to say a word for him to catch her drift.

Grinning like idiots, they leave their clothes and what's left of their six pack in a heap behind a tree and hurry to the shoreline. The water's warm and lapping with partiers. Bonnie and Kai swim out to the center of this pocket of the river. Backstroking with her wistful gaze on the colors streaming across the darkening sky, Bonnie circles Kai.

"You're a really good swimmer."

"I should be. I was a lifeguard once upon a time."

"How Baywatch of you."

She snorts. His references are dated but never so obscure she can't connect. "Tell me something, Kai."

"What to you want to know?" He wades in the water, turning with her as she rounds him.

Bonnie shrugs, slowing to a lazy float. She flicks her eyes to him and hones in on the silver chain around his neck. She never noticed it before or the charm hanging from it. She tucks her body back so she's vertical in the water and reaches for the tiny silver circular plate. There's an etched image of a bunch of lines and dots in the form of a constellation placed behind a piece of glass. "What's this?"

His breath hitches in his throat. She's so close he can smell river water and the lavender shampoo she apparently still uses after all these years. Her knuckles graze his chest and keep tapping his skin as they bob, their magic sparking. He's made a very concerted effort to not _touch_ her, but here she is in his personal space like it's the easiest thing for her to do.

It's not until she looks up through her long lashes that he realizes she's waiting for an answer. He swallows against the dryness of his throat. "The Gemini constellation. It's my family's original crest."

"Original?" Handling it like it's a relic, she gingerly twists the emblem with her fingertips. There's nothing on the back but .925 telling her it's sterling silver, so she flips it back.

"The last two coven leaders wanted something a little more modern so they came up with these, like, logos that only Gemini witches would recognize. But they were just obscure as hell. I came across this in our archives and thought the the fourteenth century was pretty vintage."

"Your coven goes back to the thirteen hundreds?"

"Officially, yeah. The Bennetts go back to Salem, right?"

She scoots away from him, the water swishing through her fingers. "Last I checked, I can traced an ancestor of mine back to one BC."

He gapes. "You're serious? How do you know that?"

"It's a long story."

"Look at you, being vague."

She spins away from him and propels a few yards away. He's quick on her heels. "Bonnie Bennett, you can swim but you can't hide."

"It's complicated and I don't want to go into it," she throws over her shoulder. Gasping deeply, she dives under the surface and breaststrokes towards shore. Blinking, Kai waits a moment before chasing her. Sometimes with her it's like pulling teeth without novocaine.

Her feet hit the sandy bottom and she wades to the bank before hurrying over to the tree where she left her dress. There's nothing there so she searches the nearby trunks. Maybe she mistook which tree… Frowning, Kai comes up behind her. While he wholly appreciates the view before him, her magic alerts him something is wrong. "Bon?"

"I can't find our clothes. I could've sworn I left them...right - here," she huffs, swatting at shrubbery.

"Bon."

"What?" She whips around and finds Kai holding a ripped piece of cardboard that had earlier been holding their six pack. Squinting at the lettering in black marker, she reads _Welcome Home, Bon Bon._

"Looks like you have a secret admirer."

Her good mood ruined, she snatches the note. "Not even…"

 _Past_

"Bonnie Bennett, just the witch I wanted to see."

Once was one time too many, but here he is again. Damon Salvatore with his leather jacket, floppy hair, and predatory gaze. The first time she found him waiting by her car, she'd been scared out of her wits. Now, she filled with indignant rage. He already showed his face at the 50's decade dance when for one, he's too old and two? Everyone knows what he did to Caroline.

He needs to stop skulking around like an old pervert. "Get out of my way," she grumbles, bumping his shoulder to pass him.

"Temper, temper."

"What is wrong with you? No one wants you here. Not your brother or Elena. Definitely not Caroline after what you did to her. I should tell her mom, you know, the _sheriff._ "

"You really don't want to do that, Bon Bon."

She shifts her binders under her arm. "No, I think I do. _Hello, 911? There's this older guy lurking around high school aged girls at Mystic Falls High. White male with dark hair and blue eyes. Not quite six feet, but he thinks he is. Sure, I'll hold."_

He grimaces at the threat. "Give me chance here, huh? I want us to be friends. I saved you from Emily, remember?"

"You almost killed me!" she spits.

He steps closer pressing her between him and her car like he'd done the first time he tracked her down. "I'd really like to do this the easy way, but I could just make you."

"You can't compel me and you know it."

"I have other ways of getting what I want," he threatens through thin lips and gritted teeth.

"So much for friends, _huh?_ " She elbows him in the stomach to get him off of her, hops into her car, and speeds away.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I must run to a christmas party but wanted to post before I go. This is starting to get into the meat and potatoes of the thing, and I don't know about you but _I'm_ excited ; )


	11. ten

10.

 _Present_

Kai exhales in amazement. "You didn't even have to do a locator spell."

"Some people never change" is her mumbled response.

In nothing but their skivvies, because the thief stole their shoes as well, Bonnie and Kai had to creep to his car. He happened to have a towel in his trunk and he chivalrously gave it to Bonnie to wrap herself in. To his surprise, she dried herself off and passed the towel back to him. He dried off as quickly as he could, threw the towel in the trunk, and got into the car. Luckily, he had the forethought to leave the keys in the visor otherwise they'd have been fucked. They kept the windows rolled down because the evening air was the right temperature to warm them up as Bonnie directed Kai to Mystic Grill.

Parked outside, she glares at the unattended baby blue Camaro as if it's the object of her irritation. Is it too much to ask that everyone just grow the hell up?

"Okay, backstory."

Kai's turned in the driver's seat to face her. The engine idles, the radio volume at a murmur. He's only wearing his necklace and black boxer briefs, but Bonnie keeps her eyeline chest and up out of respect. She can't definitively say he's affording her the same courtesy, but now's not the time for shame and modesty.

"What's there to say? Two vampire brothers came to town. One started dating one of my friends, the other treated another one of my friends as his personal sex slave. Literally. Then he wanted help opening a tomb of antebellum vampires and I refused. Shortly after, me and Grams left town. The end."

Shortly may be an understatement. After Bonnie's second run-in with Damon, she raced to her grandmother who announced they were moving away. What seemed like a split second decision to Bonnie had been weighing on Sheila since her granddaughter came home after being possessed by her ancestor Emily Bennett and then attacked by that same vengeful vampire.

Kai cocks up an eyebrow and gazes out the window at the Grill. "All this time and someone hasn't staked this guy yet?"

"Your mouth to God's ear."

They sit in silence watching the front door of the grill take in partiers from the falls and spit out the well-fed and drunk. He shuts off the car and removes the keys, tucks them where he had before. "All right, let's go."

"Kai…" Bonnie's arm grabs a hold of the steering wheel. "There's a saying we have. _No shoes, no shirt, no service._ "

"Too easy." He gives her that slippery grin of his and snaps his fingers. Suddenly, they are both clothed - Kai in blue jeans, a white shirt, and sneakers and Bonnie in a basic black dress and flip-flops. She gasps and goes to touch the fabric only to feel the skin of her thighs. "It's an illusion."

"You're teaching me that spell later."

"Patience, grasshopper."

Mystic Grill is buzzing with energy for a Friday night in such a small town, but a lot of people who were at the bonfire are now here. Matt Donovan's blond crop of hair sweeps up and down the bar attending to the influx of patrons.

Bonnie hones in on the dark hair and broad shoulders hunched over the a glass of what she can only assume is bourbon. Storming over, she attracts the attention of Stefan before the older Salvatore swivels around on his barstool. "What are you, twelve?"

"Mm, times...thirteen point five and some change. Nice to see your smiling face again, _Bon Bon_. You're looking good. Love the blonde."

She scowls. "Just give us our clothes, Damon."

"But you're already dressed so nicely." He wags his thick brows and flashes his crystal blue eyes at her. "I think I like this dress better than one you had on earlier. It fits better."

He reaches out, makes to tug at the short hem of a dress that isn't really there, and Bonnie swats his hand away. She can feel Kai hover just off to her left, but she can handle this. She turns to the gold haired younger Salvatore. "Stefan, you're usually pretty reasonable. Mind talking some sense into this brick wall of a brother you have?"

"Trust me, Bonnie," Stefan tosses back his glass of rum. "It'd be easier to reason with a brick wall."

Kai steps around Bonnie to put himself between her and the vampire with the shit eating grin. "Is that your Camaro out front?"

"Who's asking?" Damon's amusement goes cold as he cuts his eyes to Kai.

"I'm Kai. It's a sixty-nine, right? How much do you think you'd fetch for it? If you had to name a price."

Damon sucks his teeth. "Sorry, kid. Not for sale."

"Really? Must be sentimental." Kai hums then turns his back. "Good to meet you," he tosses over his shoulder as he walks off.

Damon squints at the departing witch then returns his attention to the one in front of him. "I don't like your boyfriend."

"He's n— You know, I don't remember asking your opinion. On anything. Ever. And I never will. I just want my clothes back."

"But we're having so much fun. This back and forth? You know what they say about there being a thin line between love and—"

"Don't finish that sentence."

From outside the Grill comes a loud crash, the sound of metal colliding with metal. Patrons peer out the window and the two vampires shoot to their feet at the commotion. Bonnie follows them when they rush out. The sound of another bang rocks the air as a crowbar comes down on the trunk of the Camaro. The wielder of the crowbar being Kai Parker.

"What the fuck?" Damon casually saunters towards him, disbelief halting any immediate response.

Kai swings the bar down on the trunk a third time and the force of the hit pops it open. He tilts his head. "Huh. Look, Bon! I found our clothes. And your hard cider. Psh, he left you one bottle. Ass."

She rushes over to ask if he's out of his mind but he tosses her the heap of fabrics, one of his converses falling to the pavement. "Kai, what—" She clammers for their clothes and his shoes before staggering backwards. He swings again and this time shatters the back window. That finally stirs the vampire, blurring over and clutching the crowbar as Kai preps another swing.

Damon snarls. "If I didn't have an auto mechanic for a baby brother, I'd be pretty pissed right now." He loosens his grip, pushing Kai off balance who stumbles a few steps to the side.

"Shame. Looks like I need to take another crack at it."

As fast as lightning, Kai swings again and the bar connects with Damon's jaw. The crunch as it dislocates turns Bonnie's stomach as Damon falls to the ground. Stefan approaches at a jog, but Bonnie's quicker pulling Kai back to his car. He drops the crowbar in the back of his open trunk and drops behind the wheel. Bonnie barely has a chance to close her door before he's spinning out of the parking lot and on the road out of town.

For the few miles it takes to cross the Mystic Falls town limits, it's a quiet drive. Kai keeps his attention on the road in front of them while Bonnie repeatedly checks the rearview to make sure they aren't being followed. When they're a safe enough distance away, Bonnie exhales. " _You are insane_."

"For what? Giving that guy his just desserts?"

"He could've hurt you. He could've killed you! He's almost killed me before."

Kai affords himself a glance at Bonnie. She doesn't elaborate, and he chocks it up to the circumstances that made her and Sheila leave town. She's shaking, her hands fumbling to unfold her dress from his jeans. Bonnie spikes his clothes at him, even though he's driving, and he tries not to swerve. "You seem upset."

"Do I?" She tugs her dress down her arms, Kai's illusion spell on them dissipating. "Can't imagine why."

"I was trying to defend you - and your friend. The one you said he…" He catches himself. "I thought I was helping."

"All you did was make an already unpredictable vampire angry. Who knows what he'll do now." Bonnie worries her bottom lip.

His hands tighten around the steering wheel. "Tell me you're not scared of that pervy James Dean wannabe bloodsucker. What makes him more special than any other run of the mill vamp?"

"He's the brother of my friend's boyfriend."

"And I'm six degrees of separation away from Tonya Harding. Big whoop."

Bonnie doesn't respond and Kai can't tell if she really is that scared. Or mad at him. Or, well, anything. Her magic isn't going haywire, all her energy swallowed inward. "Bon. I'm not sorry I did it, but I'm sorry it upset you."

"I…"

She turns to look at Kai, his bare skin reflecting moonlight and clothes balled in his lap. "You don't know me. I don't mean that like… You _barely_ know me, Kai. You don't know Caroline at all." A huff falls from her lips. "All Stefan did was stand there."

Blinking, she swallows against the lump in her throat. "I guess I should be saying thank you?"

He frowns at the admission. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I… Before we moved and I was coming into my powers, Damon was a real and present threat. He was feeding on people and terrorizing us. He raped Caroline and no one did anything. I mean, clearly he's the same guy after all these years.

"And what? He still gets to drink at the Grill and hang around Caroline like it's okay? He gets a pass because of who his brother is but Stefan doesn't _do_ anything. He lets it happen. He lets his brother hurt people. What kind of sibling does that?"

It's a harmless rhetorical question, but Kai's mind still goes to Jo, his twin who tricked him and helped trap him in a prison world after he murdered his younger brothers and sisters. It took a long time for him to gain perspective and even longer for him to understand the logic of the "good of many" might actually weigh more than how he felt he'd been personally wronged. He can't say he's completely forgiven his sister, but he had considered the possibility of handling his anger better if he could go back in time.

"Not a good one," he grunts.

Oblivious to Kai being caught up in his thoughts, Bonnie covers his hand on the gear shift with her own. "Thank you for defending us."

His nose flares but he doesn't respond.

"Kai." Her hand falls back into her lap. "You're not used to people taking your side, are you?"

A breath he didn't realize he'd been holding rushes out of him and he snaps back to the reality. "What makes you say that?"

"Because _I'm_ not. Other than Matt, being friends with April was one of the first times someone genuinely understood my side of things. Even now, I don't automatically believe when someone tells me I'm right. I always want to second guess my instincts."

"Why's that?" He still won't take his eyes off the road, though he does miss the warmth of her hand.

She jerks her thumb over her shoulder. "Can you blame me? You've only met a fraction of my old life. Imagine if me and Grams had stayed there. Vampires and werewolves on top of shitty people being shitty. And I would've been beaten down to believe they're worth a second and third and fiftieth chance at my own expense. I mean, what kind of person would I have turned out to be?"

He finally looks over at her, takes in her visage lit by the moonlight. Her eyelashes brush her cheeks as she gazes at her open palms in her lap. Feeling his eyes on her, Bonnie glances over to him. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to compliment you?"

That elicits a laugh from Bonnie. "You're such a dick!"

She throws a punch to his shoulder, and he takes it keening toward the window like the hit is more powerful than it is. "You want an ego boost, just say so," he chuckles.

Settling in her seat, she goes to adjust the volume on the radio when Kai's hand covers hers just as she'd done moments ago. They meet each other's eyes. "Even if you'd stayed, I'm sure you would've still been a good person."

Their hands fall away and they drive in silence for the rest of the trip.

The Monte Carlo pulls into the driveway in the backyard and Kai kills the engine. Removing the key, he unlocks the glove box and retrieves both of their cell phones. Bonnie had hers on silent while he'd had turned his off completely. Scrolling through, Bonnie finds a barrage of texts. April wondering where she is - probably from when they were either swimming or after they'd left to find their clothes. Caroline asking what the hell Kai had done to Damon and could she hire him to do it again and often. Sheila letting the both of them know she had an unexpected dinner with a friend and would be home late.

The clock in the dashboard reads ten o'clock, which isn't late at all, but did Bonnie want to explain to her Grams that Kai accosted a vampire after they'd stripped and gone swimming in their underwear? Not really.

"We can still get that drink. The Skull Bar doesn't close until eleven thirty." He fits his shirt on over his head and bundles his shoes by wrapping the legs of his jeans around them.

"I'm actually kind of tired." It's been a longer day than she planned, getting up early and meeting with her father. The stress of sparring and the bonfire and Damon Salvatore...

He looks her over, her body curled in the passenger seat like she could nap right then and there. "But you don't want to go inside."

Sheepishly, she shakes her head.

He nods. "Come on."

Exiting the car, they cross the yard and creep to the slanted double doors to the basement. Kai struggles with the rusted lock before it clicks free and he lifts one door open. Bonnie steps down first with Kai behind her as he tries to close the door without a sound. She turns on the flashlight on her phone and they quietly descend the stone steps.

The outer area of the cellar is mainly storage, things Sheila collected over the years: grimoires, relics, and furniture. The winter clothes and holiday decorations are up in the attic, but Kai figures he'll soon be moving all of that down here as well. They maneuver around boxes and crates, mismatched shelves and the hamper next to the washing machine and dryer. He twists the knob of a door splitting the basement in half and they enter a fully liveable space.

Sheila's office.

Soft cream carpet covers the otherwise concrete floor, so Bonnie removes her sandals and carries them with her. Along the wall with the door is a tall cherry wood bookshelf filled with textbooks and secondary literature on the occult. Her matching desk sits parallel, all her office supplies neatly organized, with two red leather chairs for visitors. Kai's very familiar with the room. He's been attending his Bennett mandated therapy sessions for almost four years here. Hell, he renovated it.

What's new is _his_ room. There's a drywall partition separating Sheila's office and that's where he's set up shop. He rounds the wall through a space that would fit a door if he felt like attaching one and looks back at Bonnie. She's apprehensive, her eyes wide in the glow of her phone's light. Holding up a finger he disappears into the dark and rustles around for the lamp beside the pull out couch. The light casts an orange glow and, still standing at the wall, Bonnie peeks inside.

It's cozy but clean, except for the shoes and pants Kai just dropped to the floor. A heather grey pull out couch to her right is framed with a bedside table and a simple but functional desk. Facing the bed is a flat screen television and a glass doored movie case with more DVDs than Sheila has grimoires. The clothes he'd pulled from her closet lay in a pile over the back of a recliner, but that's it. It's sparse and she wonders if that's all that belongs to him.

Answering her thoughts, Kai speaks in a low voice. "I had to pack some stuff in boxes for the time being."

"Your nudie mags?"

He snorts. "Why would anyone buy magazines anymore when they can look on the internet for free?" He tosses his phone on the bedside table and notices Bonnie is still hovering. "I can't promise I won't bite…"

Switching her light off, Bonnie sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and steps through the threshold. She sits on the corner of the bed, the mattress firmer than she expects. Kai sheds his shirt, leaving him in his underwear, and Bonnie quickly stands, her heartbeat ticking up. "I should go upstairs...and shower."

As if on cue, there are heavy footsteps on the ceiling from the first floor and the muffled giggles of women. Kai watches Bonnie, who is clearly uncomfortable with his state of undress but inwardly debates whether it's worth going upstairs and facing company. His mouth twitches. "There's a hose in the backyard."

"What are we, _twelve_?" She slowly smirks, her angled mouth moving into a repressed grin.

It takes a handful of minutes and a little strategy, but Bonnie finds herself back outside under the light of a waning moon with Kai. He dug through the box of emergency weather supplies and found travel size liquid soap for the both of them, and shampoo and conditioner for her. Sheila wouldn't like it, them rifling through her stuff in case the basement needs to become a bunker, but Bonnie seems adamant about washing the river sediment from her well-maintained locks. Though the water from the spicket is cool, he figured they'd take turns hosing each other off. She lets him go first since washing her hair will take longer.

"You did all that?" She gapes aiming the nozzle at his turned back as she rinses off lathered soap. The suds run between his shoulder blades and down to the lip of his boxer briefs. For both their sakes, it's easier if they stay somewhat clothed.

"Most of it, yeah. The drywall is just temporary. That piece between my side and Sheila's office? I think long term, we'll renovate the whole downstairs into a living space. Give Sheila a bigger office and, I dunno, make a guest room."

Too shocked he did all the work himself, she glosses over the phrase _long term._ "And you're in school for engineering? Why not just start a carpentry business or something?"

"Passion or whatever? I prefer planes. Thinking of becoming a pilot."

"Why not go into the air force, then?"

He goes still, his hands scrubbed down his face. How does he say he's mentally unfit for service without going into the whole story? "My family would kill me if I enlisted."

"Is that what you've been doing all week? Fixing up the basement?"

"Well, the cute girl I live with wouldn't talk to me, so yeah. Pretty much." She wrinkles her nose, and he turns around in the mud puddling at their feet to see her expression. "Yeah, that sounded better in my head."

"I bet," she scoffs, releasing the clamp on the nozzle. "My turn." She holds it out for him to take, which he does after drying off and wrapping his towel around his waist, and she loosens her braid.

Kai grips the hose and swings it back and forth gently wetting Bonnie's shins as she washes her covered body the best she can. The path of the water moves north but Kai's careful not to linger long on a particular spot. Not her taut stomach or the apex where her thighs meet. Definitely not her chest or the bra covering her.

She empties the entire mini bottle of shampoo into her palm before massaging it into her scalp. Kneading product from her roots to the ends, she absentmindedly spins so he can shower off her backside, and there's that ass again. He peeks up to make sure she's not watching him watch her before glancing back down at her. Her frame is very unassuming when clothed. Fitted clothes manage to disguise her figure.

Kai's mouth goes dry. Clearing his throat, he angles the nozzle down and holds it just above her shoulders like a real showerhead. Leaning back slightly, she steps under the spray and continues massaging the lather.

"Why blonde?" he asks to distract himself. He moves the nozzle above her working hands to ease the angle she's bent at.

Straightening a little, she shrugs. "Wanted something new. I'd never been one before. I like it but it's fried my hair, so I probably won't keep it much longer. Why do you ask?"

"Idle chat?"

Bonnie tosses a glance over her shoulder. "Really? I'm practically naked here. I think we're past small talk, Kai."

He sniffs. "Pretty girl barely dressed? I hadn't noticed."

Wringing her hair, she faces him. "It turns out you're not terrible company, you know."

"Ditto."

"Conditioner?" He fulfills her request, going so far as to empty the bottle in her palms. While she continues with her hair, he watches her hands, fingers threading through silk rope. In the short time he's spent with her, he's never felt her magic so at ease. It's like a glow within her causing her skin to glisten. That might just be the water, though.

The words "You can sleep on the pull out couch if you want" fall out of him mouth before he realizes he'd thought them. Bonnie's heavy eyelids lift and he's met with curious emeralds. "I'm fine on the recliner."

She nods, a quiet thanks. Tilting her head to the side, she lets the water wash out the conditioner. Closing her eyes, she hums at the combination of the water, her fingers still massaging her scalp, and Kai's body warmth so near to her. When the water runs clear, she looks at him to signal she's finished but instead sways toward him as she loses balance.

He doesn't scramble, thankfully, catching her against him and dropping the hose. She clutches at his arms, her body slippery and fingers pruned. Her face is ashen and skin cold. "Shit. Bonnie, when'd you last eat?"

"I had toast with my dad." She rests her head on his chest, her blurry gaze catching the charm of his necklace. "No, wait, I had an apple earlier, I think."

"You had hard cider. Come on," he mumbles, gripping her waist. Her towel is by the cellar door, so they struggle to it but Bonnie's legs have lost much of their strength. Kai wraps the large yellow towel around her then tucks it tightly. He crouches and scoops her up in his arms, her damp hair slapping his upper arm as she curls in his embrace. She doesn't weigh a lot, but carrying her through the dark with wet feet isn't the easiest thing he's ever done.

He makes it back to his room and lays her on the bed. She whines from the jostling but he's already on the other side of the room sticking his legs into a pair of sweats. "I'm gonna go heat you up some food. Bonnie…" He puts his fist on the mattress and leans down. Her eyes are shut but she's still conscious. "Just… Stay awake, okay?"

Taking the stairs two at a time, he bounds up to the first floor and hurries to the kitchen. Rounding the corner, he finds Sheila on her usual stool but a woman he doesn't know occupying Bonnie's. Even seated, she's runway model tall with chestnut skin. Definitely a witch.

Their dark eyes light up at his entrance and he makes his way to the fridge. "Hey…?"

"Hello, baby. Where's Bonnie? I wanted her to meet Lucy. She's a long-lost cousin of ours."

Kai pauses. He's got a witch with low blood sugar laying in his bed, _under his sheets_. She should meet her family, but he's selfish and doesn't want to share her right now. So he lies. "She's sleeping...downstairs. We were doing magic drills earlier and it kind of wiped her out."

He holds up the plate of leftovers and bottle of water he's grabbing from the fridge. "Wanted to give her something to eat when she wakes up."

"What a gentleman," Lucy remarks, flipping her curtain of auburn hair over her shoulder. "Sheila, you didn't tell me he was living _here_ with you."

"She doesn't charge me rent. Can't beat that." He puts the plate in the microwave then turns to the ladies. They've both got glasses of a red wine, sangria, Sheila's favorite. "So, you know about me?"

"Honey, everyone knows about _you._ "

Kai and Sheila share a glance but neither correct her.

Unaware, Lucy goes on. "The ageless king." She waves her hand dismissively. "While I'm no fan of what you did, I make no judgements. I've known justification for far less."

"She got mixed up with a vampire a while back."

Lucy scoffs, cocking up a plucked eyebrow. "You say that like I had a choice. The bitch blackmailed me."

Surprised at her language in front of Sheila and even more at Sheila waving it away, Kai snorts at the women's back and forth. The microwave dings, and he removes the plate as he retrieves a silver fork from the utensil drawer. "Good to meet you. Are you sticking around?"

Her expression composed like she's got a secret, she nods. "For a few days. I have to meet my baby cousin. There aren't a lot of us left who still carry the Bennett name."

"Before you leave, Malachai—" Sheila sobers for a moment, a stern look washing away the jovial feeling it just held. But Kai is way ahead of her.

"I have been and will continue to be on my best behavior, Sheils."

"You better. That's my only grandbaby down there."

Kai gives them a curt nod before backing out of the room. He catches the hint of their giggles as he turns out of sight and remembers belatedly he didn't have a chance to put his shirt on.

 _x_

Kai's bare feet stomp up the stairs and Bonnie groans. Did she really faint in his arms? How awkward can she get?

She rolls onto her side and sits up. Her hair is soaking the pillow and she wants to finally get out of her bra and panties. With labored breathing, she gets to her feet and rounds the bed. By the farthest wall, Kai's clothes lay on the recliner he claims he'll sleep on, so she sifts through the hangers. Finding a top that looks comfortable, a long sleeve black shirt, she pulls it over her head and lets the towel drop. Then she removes her bra and fits her arms into the sleeves. Finally, with the hem of the shirt falling just below her rear, she removes her underwear.

She grabs her phone and makes her way past her Grams' office to the hamper. She's been saving her dirty clothes in a hamper in her closet to do her own load of laundry, but she's too tired to care. She stuffs her wet underthings in with the rest of the clothes. Spinning around, the light from her phone shoots past an open cardboard box. She steps closer to find a pile of unfolded clothes, ones that are probably Kai's.

Bonnie roots through and grabs a pair of lounge pants and quickly tucks her legs in and tightens the drawstring waist. Fully clothed and dry, save for her hair, she returns to Kai's makeshift room and gets under the flat shirt of his bed. She twists the towel around her hair and tucks the tail in. Laying back, she closes her eyes and tries to keep herself from passing out again.

"Were you faking it?"

Her eyes pop open to Kai standing at the foot of the bed. He's frowning at her because she does not look how he left her.

She rolls her eyes. "No. Embarrassment is its own adrenaline rush. I fainted like a princess."

"You did not." He lays down the warm plate and water by the mounds that are her feet under the covers. "It was more of a swoon."

"Because that's so much better," she grumbles, peeling the plastic wrap off the food. He'd brought her leftover spaghetti. Though they were avoiding each other, he knew she liked it because she'd gotten two helpings the night he cooked it. "All this pasta you make… If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to fatten me up for slaughter."

With a pleased look on his face, he moves to the archway. "Cooking is the only thing I seem to do right."

"That can't be true." She makes a face at her food, not because it's not tasty but because he's a phenomenal cook. No way that's the only talent he sees within himself.

Needing to get out of his damp boxers, he leaves to go to the laundry area. Without yelling, somehow Bonnie's voice carries from his room: "I stole some of your clothes."

With dry, clean underwear, he puts back on his sweats and returns to her. "I hadn't noticed," he responds sarcastically with a lack of bite. Truth be told, he can't believe his fortune. Before today, he'd never had a girl to whom he wasn't related wear his clothing. The same can be said for practically showering together. In the span of so many hours, he'd checked off boxes of intimacy he never knew existed.

Of course he was loathe for the day and this time with her to end. She was bound to clam up come morning.

She's scarfing down noodles, much of her color brightening her cheeks. Her gaze flicks up to him and she swallows against the lump of food in her throat. "Who's Grams up there with? It sounds like a party."

He shrugs. "An associate professor in her department."

She goes still, momentarily thinking of Atticus Shane but then she remembers he got fired from Whitmore.

"I told them you weren't feeling well," he barrels on, going to clean his chair so he has a place to sleep.

"So, she knows I'm down here...with you."

"If you're worried about your virtue, she thinks you're asleep. And that I'm the perfect gentleman."

"Are you?"

"I can be when it strikes me."

"Wow, my confidence in you just skyrocketed," she snippily replies, her cheeks stuffed with food.

"You're clearly feeling better, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well." He hauls the clothes into his arms and walks back to the laundry, lays them on his box of other clothes. Snatching at an extra blanket, he hears her softly call out for him and jogs back to see what she wants. "Yeah?"

"Thank you for today. You're pretty alright."

"And you're just pretty." Her eyes widen and she gasps. He grins at the sight. "I want to say you're not too shabby yourself, but you're kind of great."

"Only kind of?"

He climbs onto the recliner and pulls at the lever releasing the footrest. "I mean, we didn't get to really spar earlier. Not mano o mano, at least. I'm waiting for you to really surprise me."

 _Past_

"Can you get me another blanket? I'm freezing," Jo shivers from her spot on the couch. One of his younger siblings, he suspects their brother Joey, brought home some kind of bug and it's been making its rounds. Its latest victim is his twin sister, and he cares for her just like he did with Joey and Noel and baby Liv.

He sets the bowl of chicken noodle soup on the coffee table and rises to his full height. "You have a fever, Josie. You have the chills, but you're not actually cold. Your body's just trying to cool down—"

"Thanks, Doctor Kai. How about that blanket?" She rolls her piercing blue eyes and continues to shake. "You act like I'm not the one studying medicine."

"I get you the blanket then your temperature turns and you start to sweat out the fever. Then I have to burn the blanket. I'm already planning on burning the couch. You and Joey's germs—"

"Oh, shove it!" She gives him the finger for emphasis.

He places his hand over his heart in faux offense. "Am I not the hand that feeds you?"

"You're the hand giving me a hard time. I'm the one who's sick."

With a passive face, he strides away and returns from the hall closet with a quilt their mother made when she was nesting while pregnant with them. It's gathered dust because it's hard enough for both of them to be in the house without her in it let along with all the memories and reminders. Jo doesn't say it around her younger siblings and Kai won't admit it, but they both know how the other feels. Twin minds and all.

He snaps open the blanket and lays it over his trembling sister, who settles with the second layer of warmth. She mumbles a thanks. "You know, Kai...you can be really sweet when you want to be."

"Yeah," he snorts. "When _I_ want to be."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I dunno what to say except thank you so much for the reviews and I'll see you in the new year with the next update!


	12. eleven

11 _._

 _Present_

She doesn't fall asleep.

Kai expects her to finish her spaghetti, hydrate with the bottle of water he brought down, curl up in his covers with a full belly, and close her eyes. She does all that save for the last thing, her meal re-energizing her.

Taking down the towel, Bonnie finger combs her damp hair. Without her moisturizer, oil, and leave in conditioner, her tresses will surely feel like hay in the morning. She detangles her parched strands and braids it again, a problem for the morning. All the while, she talks.

She tries to explain her complicated relationship with her friends from Mystic Falls. Elena and Caroline, Jeremy, Tyler, and Matt. Their lives were flipped upside down when the Salvatores moved in. And then her leaving so abruptly… The strained dynamic weigh on her. She didn't expect a prodigal daughter's homecoming party, but it does hurt that people she expected to always be in her life are now on the fringes. And the same for her in theirs.

Kai absentmindedly scratches at his stubble. "You know, you say it's complicated but I don't think it is. You reached out, you tried to keep in touch, but they dropped the ball. Why are you trying to give them the benefit of the doubt?"

"I mean, in their defense, they were being terrorized by vampires who weren't the Salvatores."

He waves his hand flippantly. "Yeah. Right, _context_. Still. What about after? The blonde one wasn't a vamp when you knew her but she is now and she managed to finish college. And the girl that died but didn't stay dead? Enid?"

"Elena."

"Whatever. She's alive. _She_ went to college and now she's backpacking through Europe. They all seem fine now. But they couldn't return a phone call? Visit you in Boston? No wild spring break trips to Puerto Vallarta together? I don't see where I'm supposed to feel sorry for _them_."

"I'm not trying to get you to like them, I just…" She finishes the braid, runs her fingers down the plait only to find a loose strand she didn't catch. She unravels it halfway. "It's just weird being back. Being this close to them and feeling like there's a gulf of water between us. Other than Matt, I mean, we text every now and then. But it's like… Why does this bother me so much?"

"I dunno, why does it?" He flips the question back to her. Not because he doesn't care, but he's genuinely curious. Plus, Sheila does the same thing in their sessions. Forces him to extrapolate his mental knots. It maddens the daylights out of him, but she says it's better to treat the problem, not the symptoms.

She lets go of her hair, the neat tail laying over her shoulder. Meeting his inquiring gaze, she breezily shrugs. "Everyone's moved on without me. My friends, Grams—"

"Sheila?"

"She dragged me away from Mystic Falls and when I ran north...she didn't follow me. She never came to visit. She called, but… And then to find out all this time, you've been here. You're the reason she didn't bother to ask me to come back home."

"Well, shit." They're silent for a while. Digesting the possibly misplaced blame, Kai sinks into the plush cushions of the suede recliner as Bonnie pulls her legs into her chest. "You tell her all that?"

"Barely gotten the chance. Not that I cared about hurting your feelings, but I didn't want to make a big thing about it in front of you." A smile creeps over Kai's lips, and Bonnie frowns. "What?"

"You said cared. As in past tense." That earns him a dramatic eyeroll. "You care about me, Bonnie?"

"It's not like I have a choice. You're like...my foster brother now."

His grin promptly drops. "If I've ever been turned on by anything at any point in my entire life, that _right there_ has to be a firehose of a cold shower."

Bonnie licks her lips to keep from smiling. She doesn't mean to shut him down because there is a palpable attraction between them. Maybe it's their magic. Maybe it's because he's so damn good looking and they exist in such close proximity to one another. But it's better this way. The cautious distance. That doesn't mean she can't indulge what they've stumbled upon for now.

She grins over at him, smile like a warning of what she's thinking and about to say next. "What's something no one else knows about you?"

"I mean, there's probably a reason no one else knows it."

"Humor me," she insists.

"You first."

"Fine." She lays back, her head at the foot of the bed and legs crossed and propped on the back of the couch. Looking up at the ceiling, she finds a spot, a cluster of popcorn, and stares at it. She can't look at him when she tells him this. "April and Grams know, but… I had a relationship with a professor at Whitmore when I was still in high school."

There's a long stretch of silence. Kai frowns, tries to piece together who they were and when it happened and how and why and if that's why she fled to Boston. Sheila keeps a lot of things close to the vest, especially when it pertains to Bonnie, but there were clues. The blunt haircut in her graduation photos, Bonnie never bothering to come to Virginia on her school breaks. A good chunk of his first year out of the prison world, Sheila essentially had him on lockdown in the townhouse when she wasn't home. Something on campus kept her occupied outside of classes and she had a hard time juggling whatever _that_ was and his rehabilitation. Suffice it to say, that first year was rough for both Kai and Sheila. He really expected her to toss him back into the prison world, and yet...

Bonnie turns her head towards him. For once, he's not watching her like he normally is—a habit she hasn't quite gotten used to yet. He faces forward, his gaze a laser aimed at the bare wall in front of him. Jaw clenched, he mulls over a response but can't mentally articulate coherent thoughts. The quiet becomes tenuous, so he settles with something simple. "What happened?"

"Too much, too soon." She chews on her bottom lip. "He had a kid. And a wife, who was a witch. He lost them both in an accident, and I think in a way he was using me to replace them."

Kai is of two minds at war—that it's gross for a grown man to leech onto a young girl like that, but if given the chance, he couldn't think of one reason he wouldn't want to rope his life to Bonnie's.

"You're quiet. It's kind of creeping me out."

He coughs a laugh. "I'm just thinking that can't be your deep, dark secret. Seems like more of a moral failing on his part than anything."

She frowns at the phrasing. _Moral failing on his part._ Nothing (physical) happened between her and Atticus before her eighteenth birthday. He wouldn't let his arm so much as brush against hers in passing, but things between them were intense. She never even had a real boyfriend before him. No, they were careful. They waited.

She sits up, her skin flushed with heat. "I wasn't some victim. He didn't stalk me like I was prey."

"I didn't mean—"

" _I wanted him_. Or I thought I did. What we had was completely mutual. And legal," she asserts. It always bugged her how things happened. She ended the relationship when it got to be a lot more than she was ready for and told her grandmother, but the forced resignation from Whitmore college and how he disappeared in the night stung. He didn't even leave a forwarding address for all the grimoires and occult textbooks he'd gifted her.

She'd been honest with Grams because the girl needed support. Her heart was breaking. She didn't want his entire life destroyed or uprooted. She only needed an ear, a shoulder to cry on. A friend when she didn't have any. Instead, Sheila took matters into her own hands.

"Okay. I believe you," Kai acquiesces then squints. "Is that why you cut your hair?"

Bonnie's fingers go to her braid. She strokes the damp plait. "He was older, yes, but we got along. He wasn't my professor when things got serious. I'd taken his class the semester before..." she trails off, ghosts in the green of her eyes. "When he left, it was as if he didn't exist. He shut off his phone, broke his lease, and emptied his office and apartment all in the span of, like, twenty hours. You can't google him. He's not a witch, so I can't even track him through covens. He didn't hurt me. He just..."

"Left."

"Yeah."

Kai knowingly nods. Abby abandoned Bonnie and Rudy, with his kind of career, may as well have, too. He feels a shade of that kind of void. His father gave up on him at a very young age. Around the time Jo came into her powers and he didn't. There was also a switch that flipped in his mother. Sometime in his last childhood, she began to look at him differently. Not hatefully or with disdain, but different all the same. As if she came to understand and even empathize with Joshua's vitriol. As if the poison tasted sweeter and sweeter each day, with each new pregnancy. Eventually, Jo turned as well.

They abandoned him, except he had the misfortune of living with each of them day in, day out. The prison world was, in its own special way, a comfort. It made their betrayal real, not just an idea he convinced himself he'd only imagined. That knowledge made killing and maiming his siblings easier to swallow. _Doesn't justify it, though_ , he mentally corrects.

"Your turn." He pulls himself out of his thoughts to find her staring at him. "Tell me about what you did to end up here."

"That's not fair. You don't get to pick which secret I reveal."

She shrugs, her expression smug like _it was worth a shot._ "You might as well spill. Grams may not tell me and I think you're close to folding, but I'll find out sooner or later. But I'll be pretty disappointed if I don't hear it from you."

"I'll have you know guilt trips have the adverse effect on me."

"Really?" Her bottom lip juts out as her eyes widen in sorrow. Long lashes flutter on sienna, freckled cheeks.

He clenches his teeth shut to keep himself from instinctively licking his lips or grinning or doing something that'll make him look like a lecherous creep, but it comes over him like a fever. Something about her presence brings out a carnal part of him. He's known bloodlust—and regular ol' lust on the very rare occasion. This is something else. Or it's both.

A persistent urge pushes to go ahead and just tell her. Let her cringe and withdraw and hate him now so he can deal with that. Another urge pushes back, tells him to keep a tight latch on his past, because he's changed now. He's not the same guy who slaughtered his little brothers and sister.

Except he is. His behavior earlier, trashing that vampire's vintage car, was his old self slipping through the cracks and worse is that he liked it. He _loved_ it. The sick sound of bone separating from bone, the way it felt to swing that crowbar through the back window, how invincible he felt wanting to ride that high before Bonnie reminded him of how dangerous testing Damon was. Kai has a coven of people to lead and protect. He can't fly off the handle like he could when he was twenty-two.

Sheila said it would be difficult. Without doing the total soul merge, Kai would have to work harder to craft his own barometer for the right and wrong responses. Find his own moral compass. While wanting to defend Bonnie held pure intentions, maybe his execution was skewed.

He pivots. "Did you know I didn't always have magic?" He smirks at her because he skirted the issue once more and also because of course she doesn't know. He could tell her anything about himself and pass it off as some secret, long buried deep in a trench.

By her pinched expression, the topic change isn't subtle but she's curious all the same. He's the leader of his coven, but there was a time he didn't even have powers?

"I had a power," he answers her unspoken question. "I still do, but I wasn't born with magic exactly."

"What were you born with?"

He rotates his torso over the arm of the recliner, crosses and extends his right arm, and holds out the open palm of his hand. Bonnie eyes it suspiciously but she scoots over anyway. Legs and pajama bottoms and sheets tucked under her, she kneels on the mattress, sits back on her heels, and hesitates with her hand hovering over his.

Kai blinks. "You still don't trust me?"

"Mm. Less right now in this moment than I did when I first met you."

The corner of his mouth ticks. "Well, trust me when I say this is going to hurt."

 _x_

Bonnie wakes up alone. The recliner is empty of its previous occupant and the basement is the doldrums as she rustles off the sheets. There are no windows and her phone is dead, so she doesn't know what time it is. An ache pulses at the base of her neck from the angle she slept prompting her to stretch. Arms extend over her head, the sleeves of Kai's soft shirt rolling down her skin. She drops her arms and stares at her palms. Nails curl in to make fists then they release.

Only hours ago, Kai sucked, no, _siphoned_ her magic with a simple touch.

She'd channeled someone else's magic before. Luka's. She knew spells to enchant objects and how to store away one's magic. She'd even researched how to transfer one's magic to another, but never has she come across an incantation or a witch who could steal someone's magic. She could feel it, the tug as he depleted her bit by bit. Shock, pain, and then indignation rushed through her before she snatched her hand from his.

She tugs the sleeves down, gripping the hems in her fists, and pushes off the bed. Bonnie's a consummate guest, so she folds the bed in on itself which opens the room up. The carpet is plush under her toes, and she could take this chance to snoop around, peek in her grandmother's desk and rifle through her bookshelf but the basement is a vacuum. She could scream and no one would hear her.

Taking the steps two at a time, she opens the door to the main level and chokes down a hiccup. Bonnie's stomach drops. Sheila, Kai, and the visitor from last night all sip from mugs and laugh over what looks like bear claws. "Lucy!"

Bonnie bounds over to the woman's awaiting arms and all but tackles her into the couch cushions. "H-hey, baby Bennett!" A mess of hair and oversized clothes, the women embrace for a long moment. "We thought you were going to sleep my stay away. You feel all right?"

Lucy's warm hand finds Bonnie's forehead, but she shakes it off. "I'm fine. I'm okay. I can't believe you're here." Her gaze darts to Kai. "You knew it was Lucy and you didn't tell me?"

He shrugs. "You'd already swooned once."

"Fainted," she corrects. "I don't swoon."

"I dunno, cuz," Lucy hums, her eyes flickering to Kai's relaxed form on the loveseat beside Sheila. "If I had someone who looked like him to catch me, I'd swoon any chance I could get."

Kai's eyebrows jump and he hides his twitching mouth with the rim of his mug.

There's a lot of flirt going on and Sheila cuts through it, clears her throat. "Bonnie, I didn't know you'd already met Lucy."

"Well, not officially. I found her online a few years ago and we kept in touch. She just never made it up to Boston." The two finally release each other and settle comfortably into the couch. Bonnie pulls her legs under her and she catches Kai's intent gaze. Self-consciously, she tucks her hands into the sleeves of the shirt. His shirt.

When she snatched her hand away, she immediately clutched it to her chest the way a child cradles their arm after touching a hot iron they were warned not to. He'd flexed his own fingers, knuckles popping, and watched her like he always does to see how far he'd pushed her. She didn't look at him for a long time, her attention instead on her palm and the phantom sensation. When she finally spoke, it was in a low and cautious tone. "You could, can do that _and_ magic?"

"Now I can. For years, I could only...leech."

Her eyes snapped up at the way he spat that last word. "Is that how you became coven leader? Because you can do that?"

He cocked his head to the side. He spent so much of his very long life believing his power was a defect, a liability. Sure, it helped out in a pinch but his coven's blatant distrust of those who could do what he could left a bad taste in his mouth. But there Bonnie sat after having just experienced what he imagined to be particularly unpleasant and she'd framed it as a skill. An asset to leadership.

In that moment, he could've kissed her.

He didn't, though, instead opted to clear his throat and rise out of his spot. "You need rest."

"Where are you going?"

With a tight smile, he grabbed her empty plate and depleted water bottle. "Dishes." When he came back downstairs thirty minutes later, she was fast asleep.

"Well, I am here now and Sheila and I are going to take you out on a special lunch date." To Kai, she winks. "Sorry, Bennetts only."

"I'll see myself out. Ladies…" Taking his coffee with him, he pushes off the couch and heads down to the hallway to the backyard. Three pairs of eyes follow his departure before the older two women turn to Bonnie.

She shrinks. "What? I got a little sick and he made sure nothing happened to me. End of story."

"I think that chapter is longer than you think."

"Wow. Even in person, everything you say sounds filthy."

Lucy shrugs. "It's a gift."

Not wanting to belabor any longer, Sheila urges Bonnie to go and get dressed. The young witch deflates because she doesn't want to miss any more time with her cousin, but she obeys trudging up the stairs. She takes a quick shower, scrubbing herself down with her favorite fragrant body wash, and hurries to get dressed. It's only May but with Virginia's oppressive heat and humidity, she opts of a loose, dark green shift dress that shows off her toned arms and lower legs. Coating her eyelashes with mascara and her lips with chapstick is the extent of her makeup, but she does take her hair out of its braid. Lacking moisture, it's as dry and stringy as she expected, which has her idly wondering how much long she'll keep the damaging blonde. She runs a wide toothed comb through the waves and drifts to her window.

Peering into the backyard, she expects to see Kai hunkered over his car in some way but she's wrong. His hand is up to his head, phone pressed to his ear, while fingers of his other hand pinch the bridge of his nose. He argues with whoever is on the phone for another moment before he hangs up and pockets the small device. The caller or the nature of the call can't have been good if his forlorn gaze is any indication. His eyes linger on the townhouse before lifting to the window Bonnie stands at. He shouldn't be able to see her from where she stands, but something in his expression worries her.

Deciding it's none of her business, she steps back from the window, slips her feet in some flip-flops, and heads downstairs.

 _x_

The restaurant is really nice, definitely not cheap, and Bonnie regrets her choice in casual footwear.

On the way to lunch, the cousins chatted animatedly about Lucy's travels and the latest relic she acquired in Nova Scotia. She didn't say what it is, was vague about its origins, only revealing that it's extremely valuable and the only one of its kind.

"So what are you doing here then? Don't you usually broker your deals in New Orleans?"

Lucy flipped down the visor and smirked at herself in the tiny mirror. She rubbed the pad of her finger under her eye. "I do, but you're living with the leader of a very large coven and I thought he'd be interested in what I found before I headed south."

With a soft smile on her face, Sheila listened to the younger witches talk. Her biggest fear was always how Bonnie gravitated to isolation. Whether it was her fading to the background behind her childhood friends or the way she suffers in silence opting to hold in what pains her, it's heartbreaking how her first instinct is to save the world and not herself. Sheila hoped leaving Mystic Falls and even Bonnie going to Boston would strike that habit out of her. So far, she believed it worked. She wass thankful the young woman's interest in witchcraft didn't wane, though.

"You've been spending more time with Malachai," Sheila starts, her eyes roving over the lunch specials. She thinks she wants fish today.

"I figured that's what this was about," Bonnie smirks, wiping her buttery mouth with her cloth napkin. "He's not as bad as I thought. I just can't believe I've been walking around hating the guy because _you_ never told me about him. I mean, what, I go off to college and you adopt someone else's kid?"

With raised eyebrows, Lucy glances between the two but continues to lather her roll with warm butter.

"I understand how you feel, but my reasoning for taking in Malachai had nothing to do with you."

"Oh, but it does. He's been living in that house, sleeping in my bed, and you didn't think to tell me? You thought I wouldn't want to know? I was in Boston, Grams, not Mumbai. I wasn't so far away that I didn't care about you and whatever it is all this is."

Sheila places her menu down and clears her throat. "Do you know why we left Mystic Falls?"

"Vampires, Damon almost killing me..."

"We left because you were coming into your powers, baby. Most witches express their magic at a very young age, but you were sixteen when the visions started. Our family is inextricably tied to the history of that town and after Abby left… I told myself I was going to raise you to live a normal life. If and when your powers came, we'd cross that bridge.

"It's no secret our family has been aligned with beings who did not have our interests at heart," she chances a glance at Lucy, who meets her eyes. "And I didn't want that for you. When that vampire showed up on my porch looking for you," her voice cracks. "I had to break that generational curse."

That's an element she hadn't considered until Jeremy mentioned it and now her Grams was validating it. Leaving gave her the opportunity for a better life. But if there's one thing Bonnie's good at it's holding a grudge, and she's still a little bitter. "What does any of that have to do with Kai?"

"He's different from you, Bonnie. He grew up with magic. His coven is very old with strong beliefs and a rather rigid way of doing things. I can't do for him like I do for you."

"Sounds like favoritism," she mumbles.

Whenever she used to visit her dad's side of the family, she felt it. No one cared all that much for Abby when she and Rudy first dated. The choppy waters were eased when they married and had Bonnie, but when Abby disappeared family members felt justified in their distaste because they sensed her lack of loyalty from the beginning. Bonnie got the brunt of that dislike. Her cousins got more gifts at Christmas and the cards with cash slowed to a halt around her fourteenth birthday. One particular cousin was a pageant princess, her grandparents' house decorated with all her trophies and plaques, but they never lifted a finger to rally behind Bonnie the year she's been denied entry to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. Summers spent with them could never pass quickly enough.

Sheila reaches across the table and places her hand on top of Bonnie's. "I know who my blood is, baby. That's you. And I will always do right by my own." She gives her hand an affectionate squeeze before pulling back to her side of the table. "And I'm glad you and Malachai are getting along. He could use a friend."

"Are you going to tell me what he did?"

"Not my story to tell."

 _Past_

The banquet hall is dead silent, and he likes the irony of that. The poetry.

Elders and coven witnesses, including the two youngest Parker children, stand shoulder to shoulder in a giant circle around the three witches, but it's the tension that binds them more than anything. This should've happened years ago. It was supposed to happen, and all they've done is delay the inevitable.

The male twin lays down first and he tries not to chuckle as his body relaxes on the yoga mat. He told Sheila he'd be on his best behavior and so far he's been an angel. His sister follows suit, rolling her back down to the floor on a matching mat, a grimace etched into her older face. Thinking of his own eternal youth, he smirks before turning his attention to the ceiling and shutting his eyes.

A Bennett witch sits between them on her knees and lets her hands, palms facing down, hover over both of their sternums. Jo is in her everyday business casual attire, her navy blouse tucked into her black slacks, while Kai's rather comfortable in cuffed jeans and a black henley. They're both barefoot as are all the other witches in the room, though they've forgone the traditional cloaks for day clothes.

Scentless candles burn at five spots around the three. Sheila opens her mouth to walk the elders through her incantation then thinks better of herself. If this doesn't work, she'll try again. But it does work, she will have successfully _fixed_ the bug in their merge ritual. No point in working for free. If they want the spell for the future, they'll have to pay dearly for it.

She shuts her eyes and begins to chant the spell her great-grandmother once used to save her child, her voice soft and low in fear of the others hearing the incantation. " _Phasmatos tribum melan veras raddiam onu pavadus ponemus. Phasmatos tribum melan veras raddiam onu pavadus ponemus. Phasmatos tribum melan veras raddiam onu pavadus ponemus._ " The lights flicker as her magic builds and fills her subjects. Jo's breath hitches in her throat while Kai grits through the discomfort. An invisible string tethers to something in his chest and just as it begins to drift away where he can't chase it sinks back in its place, shifts around like an animal kneading its bedding, and nestles deep where it once rested.

Satisfied when their ragged breathing returns to normal and the dimming fluorescents brighten, Sheila lowers her hands to her lap and clutches the rusted knife. "Hands."

Obeying, Jo lifts her palm to the ceiling and Kai does the same. Sheila pricks their hands with the sharp tip of the blade, and Jo really has to bite back the snide suggestion for Kai to make sure his tetanus shot is up to date. She does roll her head to the side and finds her brother, the soulmate this cruel universe gave her, already staring over at her. His face is unreadable, though there was once a time when she could accurately guess what he was thinking no matter his expression. Folie à deux. That time has clearly passed.

The twins clasp bloody hands and return to their resting positions. " _Sanguinem desimilus. Sanguinem generis fiantus. Sanguinem desimilus. Sanguinem generis fiantus. Sanguinem desimilus. Sanguinem generis fiantus._ " Once again, the electricity surges, the lights bursting and dropping them all into darkness as the Parkers' voices die away.

In the glow of the candles and the light of the full moon, two sets of eyes clouded over with a white film pop open, and the twins' backs arch at an odd angle off their mats. Sheila tries not to cringe at the exorcist-like contortions. This is her first and hopefully last time viewing a Gemini merge ceremony, but she keeps her distaste of the archaic practice to herself.

The prone bodies still and stay that way for long minutes, but this is the moment to be patient and the people in the room have all the time in the world—even if they like to pretend they're on a ticking clock.

In tandem, Jo and Kai inhale sharply and sit up straight to catch their breaths. The circle collectively sighs in apprehensive relief. A figure steps forward. "So it worked?"

Kai's head snaps in the direction of the inquiry and his hand shoots out. "Let's find out together." He mutters " _motus_ " and grins at the sight of his father flying across the banquet hall to the furthest wall.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sheila's fix for the merge is a combo of two spells already apart of canon. No reason to reinvent the wheel, ya feel? But more on that later. I know it's February but happy new year!


	13. twelve

12.

 _Present_

She stays another night, getting comfortable on the couch with a plush blanket from the linen closet upstairs. Lucille Bennett is a wealth of knowledge and adventure, and Bonnie wonders how different Sheila must be from her late baby sister. From what she understands, her own mother Abby had a boring, small town life growing up in Mystic Falls while Lucy's upbringing boasts travel and intrigue and all the wondrous things a young woman dreams of doing in life. Love and heartbreak, making friends with the wrong people and standing up to the shittier ones. The nomadic existence she's lived thus far is inspiring and Bonnie's a little envious.

Though, she doesn't feel that an unwarranted twinge of jealousy until her cousin slips away after they come home from lunch. Her Grams leaves to teach her afternoon class, and she spies Lucy in the backyard in deep conversation with Kai. The two stand close, heads bowed over some small object in the woman's hand, their mouths forming words Bonnie can't read. Their gazes alternate back and forth between the item and making meaningful eye contact. Her throat tightens and she can't understand why she even cares, choosing to chock it up to another secret to add to the pile.

Shaking her head, she heads to the kitchen. She can't be mad at something that's none of her business. The emotion while overwhelming is fleeting. When Lucy reenters the living room Bonnie's ready to launch into her past dealings with that vampire who everyone says looked just like Elena Gilbert while they oil and moisturize her hair and scalp.

For dinner, they order Chinese take-out to go with the rest of Sheila's sangria while Bonnie regales her time in Boston, Kai pulls Sheila into the kitchen. Noticing the two slinking away to have a hushed conversation, Bonnie trips over her tongue before resuming her tale of the time an espresso machine blew up and the only reason April Young isn't covered in third degree burns is due to Bonnie's instinctual magic.

"I didn't even have to think of the spell or _say_ it. It just happened. It was like this, this _bubble_ that shielded her and our coworkers from the spray."

"Damn, girl! You strong as hell," Lucy grins at her over the noodles hanging from her chopsticks. "That's a gift, trust me. Anyone can learn anything with the proper resources and enough practice, but you can never beat good instincts."

Bonnie perks up at the compliment. "Really?"

"Yeah! Look, I can be on guard twenty-four-seven, sleep with one eye open, and still get bested. But if you've got the trust and confidence in your magic where you don't even hesitate to save yourself and the people around you… You are going to make one unstoppable bitch, Bonnie Bennett."

"What'd I miss?" Kai wonders, rubbing his hands together like he missed some juicy anecdote. Wordlessly, Sheila passes behind him and heads up the stairs. "Anyone want to split my Moo Shu pork? I'm stuffed."

 _x_

The youngest occupant sleeps curled on the loveseat, her form turned like she'd nodded off mid-sentence. He leans against the banister and stares at her the way he did the night before. The steady rise and fall of her chest, the way her nose twitches in response to whatever she's dreaming about, the unintelligible murmurs that fall from her lips. Kai could watch her for hours.

Sheila pads down the stairs and Kai's quick to reach for her modest travel bag. It's not heavy at all, this being a very last minute and hopefully short trip, but she trained a gentleman. Can't slack off now. "Put this in the kitchen, will you?"

She hands him a greeting card with a photograph of the setting sun's rays glinting off a lake outside of Whitmore. He peeks at her delicate scrawl on the inside of the otherwise blank card. Nodding, he puts her bag beside his at the front door and does as she asks, setting the card on the kitchen island where he knows it'll be found.

As he crosses the room, Bonnie stirs. Kai tenses. They aren't exactly sneaking out, so why does he feel a tad traitorous? Could disappearing like this rattle the shaky foundation he and Bonnie have constructed?

Sheila moves to the door, and he continues across the room and hefts up their bags. A mumble follows him and he can't help but turn at it. Bonnie blinks, her vision adjusting to the low light, and she mutters something like "grapefruit?" before settling back into the cushions and her blanket. With that, Kai and Sheila steal away into the night.

 _x_

The honeyed scent of fat and meat hit her nose before the crackling pop of bacon nudges her awake. An ache in her spine is the final shove she needs to shake off sleep, so she rises and wipes at her oily cheeks and crusty eyes. Her tongue is dry and thick in her mouth and she wonders if it's from the wine or the sodium content of her shrimp lo mein. Either way, her stomach flips at the thought of a skillet of bacon and the guy cooking it.

Bonnie can't mask the disappointment on her face when it's Lucy she finds over the stove. The older woman doesn't take it personally, though. Pointing to the card on the island with that fork, she knowingly smirks. "Note's for you."

Pursing her lips, she shuffles over and opens the card. Her grandmother's script is elegant even if the contents are vague. _Something came up and Kai is needed by his coven. I will call you once we touch down in Portland. Send Lucy my love and well wishes on her future travels. I love you._

Underneath her message is scribble she doesn't recognize but it can't be anyone else's but Kai's. _Help yourself to the mooooooo shu pork_

She can only roll her eyes at the stupid joke before she swallows against whatever emotional turmoil grips her and plasters on a smile. She tosses the note in the trash and turns back to her cousin. "Need help?"

Lucy has to make a pitstop in Savannah before she heads to the crescent city and needs to put seven hours behind her fast. She doesn't mention whether or not Kai was interested in whatever it is that she showed him, and Bonnie doesn't pry. They make grilled cheese sandwiches for her to take, and after they eat breakfast she promises to keep in touch. When she's finally packed up and gone, Bonnie tucks into her chair and tastelessly chews on her lunch.

This is the first time she's been completely alone since she's come home and she can't decide if she likes it. It's a nice day out, but with no car and money in savings that she refuses to touch there's nowhere for her to go and nothing to do. She had hoped since her and Sheila had their breakthrough at lunch yesterday that they could really reconnect.

Time inches by. When April texts around seven to say she's on her way to Whitmore, Bonnie is halfway out the door before the realization hits her that her Grams still hasn't called yet.

 _x_

His fingers clench around the bag of clear fluid and he thinks to pop it like a water balloon. He'd get kicked out for sure, but they waited this long to call him… They wanted to keep him in the dark about this for as long as possible.

"He's breathing on his own now, which is good," the doctor nods at the resting man. Kai glances over his shoulder at the two women before going back to his musings of busting his father's saline drip. He's here as a formality. The nurse couldn't tell Sheila what's wrong without the consent of a family member present and Kai couldn't care less, not really. If he had his way, this flight west would've yielded a funeral not a _well, all we can do right now is wait and see._

Their flights were on time with no hiccups, even the downtime between connections was a small wait, and there was a town car waiting for them at their gate. Traffic was light on their way to the hospital and when they arrived at the information desk, they were easily escorted to the private room. Luke shot to his feet when Sheila and Kai entered the tiny suite and he didn't know want to do with himself. Did he hug the family friend? Shake her hand? Motus his older brother out the sixth floor window and hope it only paralyzed the bastard?

He decided on a terse smile with no teeth and hustled out of the room to get the doctor, said it was better to hear it from her. A mousy intern, so a doctor but not a _doctor_ , returned with Luke and put her hand out for Kai to shake. He kept his arms folded leaving Sheila to be the one with manners.

End stage renal failure, she said. Absentmindedly scratching her scalp, her curly auburn hair cropped short like a brillo pad, she rattled off treatment options. Dialysis or a kidney transplant. "Actually, it'd be best if he did the dialysis while he waits for the kidney. The donor list is _long_."

Her voice sits at a high register, which matches the whole pixie lady vibe she gives off, but it only grates on Kai's nerves. Hence his back being turned. He doesn't feel like schooling his expression right now. The woman doesn't notice, just rambles on and on. "Since his blood type is so rare, he'd have to wait for a donor who is—"

"O negative," Kai finishes then scoffs. "Of fucking course." He should laugh at god, he really wants to laugh in the face of whatever capricious being gave him this life.

"Something funny, Malachai?"

He turns to meet Sheila's reproachful gaze. "Oh, yeah! The fact that the man lying before us had eight kids and only one of them has his same blood type."

The intern holds her clipboard to her flat chest. "Um, who would that be? I have," she takes a quick peek at the chart then presses it back where it was. "Lucas, Olivia, and a Josette in his file, but none of them are a match."

He tilts his head and cocks his eyebrow at the woman. Hazel eyes grow wide like a porcelain doll and she nervously giggles having belatedly caught on. "Oh! Right! Okay, _well_ , if you're interested in the transplant option, I have some informa…"

Kai tunes her out after that. He pulls his hand away from the IV drip and strides out the room in search of a snack and some fresh air.

 _x_

The Skull Bar is like the Mystic Grill in that they both serve actual meals. But here, the crowd is younger, the drinks are cheaper, and the fries are much saltier. Bonnie drowns her crinkle fries in ketchup hoping to offset the salt as she smiles at April currently doing a jig at the jukebox tucked in the corner.

The song, reminiscent of 80s rock, plays above the prattle of diners and drinkers. April returns to their booth and sucks down more of her beer. Giving up on the fries, Bonnie pushes the basket away and dives into their tray of hot wings. "Why did you want to come here?"

 _Touching youuuuuu, touching meeeee. Touching you, God you're touching me!_

The brunette air-guitars along with the music before snatching a fry. The ketchup and salt don't bother her. "Dunno. Wanted to see how the other side lives, I guess."

"The other side?" Bonnie leans in, not sure she heard right.

"Yeah, Caroline and Elena and them. They went to school here, probably came to this bar. I just wanted to know how it measures up to Boston."

"Ape, please tell me you're not jealous. Of this?" Her green gaze swings around the room and admittedly, Bonnie is less than impressed. It's not _bad_ , but it's small town rustic. Bonnie would bet money they host a remembrance night for a war they lost. She'd take Boston and its bitterly cold winters any moment of any day.

"I'm not _jealous_. I'm curious. Aren't you? Don't you wonder what life would've been like if you'd stuck around? Went to Whitmore and never left home?"

It's a train of thought she tries not to take, but it creeps up on her regardless. She used to think she, Elena, and Caroline were soulmates, that the spirits had perfectly matched her with her friends. She knows now she was naive for believing that. But, yeah, she'd imagined what it would've been like if the girls had been roommates and gone to parties together. Trying to talk (a human) Caroline out of joining a sorority and failing. All night study sessions and spring break to party destinations.

Fortunately for Bonnie, she had those exact experiences—just not with her childhood besties. Adding the supernatural component on top of all that, she didn't miss much.

"Yeah, I'm curious but I also don't care anymore." Bonnie takes a pull of her own beer. "They have their life and I have mine. _We_ have our life, and nothing else matters, okay?"

The other woman nods, her bangs flapping. "You're right. You're absolutely right!" She trails off, and Bonnie knows it's coming. The _but_. "But… I keep thinking about what Jeremy said."

 _Oh_. There it is. She makes a face, but the other woman doesn't see it because she's humming along to her song selection and dips her finger into the pool of red sauce. "What did Jeremy say?" Bonnie prompts, and a flush colors two otherwise pale cheeks.

"All the stuff that happened while we were gone. My dad never said anything to me about the vampire infestation and your Grams yanked you out of it. Maybe we could've helped."

"Why would it be on two teenage girls to save the world?"

Chastised, her mouth ticks to the side. "I'm a helper by nature, Bon."

"And I'm a servant of nature. But Boston was what was in the cards for us both. Don't kick a gift horse in the teeth."

April grimaces. "I don't think that's the saying."

"You sure?"

They dissolve into giggles. "We're getting another round." As April gestures to the curly blonde bartender, Bonnie's attention slides to her cell phone which has yet to ring or light up. When their drinks arrive, she flips her phone on its face for the rest of the evening.

It isn't until she's getting out of the shower that she finally hears her ringtone going off in her bedroom. "Bonnie! Some Portland number is calling you. You want me to ignore it?"

Fumbling to get her towel wrapped around her, she rushes into her room and snatches the phone. " _Kai_?"

"Hey."

"Hey…" she breathes. April gives her a look, but she ignores her. "You're alive."

"I am."

"Grams said she was going to call when you got to Portland. I started to think you both were burnt to a crisp in some cornfield."

"Yeah, sorry. Things got busy here."

His clipped tone makes her guard go up. "Is everything okay?"

There's a long beat where all she can do is listen to the sound of his breathing. "Yeah. No. Well, my father's sick. Kidney failure."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She grips her towel at her chest and sinks down at the foot of her bed. April's amused expression becomes concerned, her dark brows knitting under her fringe. She turns down the volume of the pop music playing from Bonnie's laptop.

"Psh," he snorts. "Don't be. The old man's been living on borrowed time for far too long."

"Is there anything that can be done?"

"Dialysis and possibly a transplant. The irony is I'm the kid my father disowned and yet I'm the only one with his same blood type." There's a cold humor in his voice.

"Are you going to do it?"

He sniffs. "Would you think less of me if I said I really don't want to?"

It's morbid, but Bonnie can't help the tiny smile. "Well, as far as daddy issues go, I can't blame you if you don't. I know if it were my mom and she needed my kidney… I'd probably give it to her but I'd make sure I gave her a piece of my mind with it."

A breathy chuckle coats the shell of her ear and she can almost imagine him standing beside her. There's a pang of longing in her gut for this guy she only just met and that worries her. Clearing her throat, she glances over at her friend watching her intently.

"It's your decision, Kai. Sounds like there's a lot to unpack there with your family, and I'm in no position to judge what you do or don't do."

"I was kind of banking on you telling me to do the right thing," he says with an airyness that she could mistake for sarcasm, but somehow she knows he's a little bit sincere.

"The right thing for who?"

He doesn't have a response to that and she doesn't expect him to, but she doesn't want to let him go yet. So she tells him that Lucy left and he tells her he's glad because he doesn't like sharing her and Sheila. A grin overtakes her face that not even April's scandalized look could beat back with a stick.

 _x_

When the call ends, he lifts his hips to pocket his phone and clears his throat. "I know you're there. Olly olly oxen free already."

A body drops down on the bench beside him. Kai slides his eyes in his direction and he wonders if that scowl is permanently etched on his baby brother's stupid face or is it crafted special just for him?

"You're not doing the transplant."

"Are you asking or are you telling me?"

"Murderers don't save lives."

He folds his arms across his chest. "Vigilantes, freedom fighters, the military…"

"You killed four of our siblings in cold blood because you had a temper tantrum. Don't argue semantics with me."

"Fair enough."

Luke rotates towards him, but he doesn't turn in kind. "You know we're going to have to call a quorum, right?"

"Whatever for?"

"The Parker legacy. The future of the Gemini Coven. Ring any bells?"

"Not a one."

He sighs. "The timeline's all messed up. Dad was leader way longer than anyone else in our history, and since you took his seat late it's up to you to get us back on track."

Kai scratches his head. "Please tell me you're not putting the fate of our coven in my loins. Because to that I say—" He grabs his crotch and gives it a tug in a lewd manner. "Get off my dick."

"I like this even less than you do. I'm not even leader and I'm the one rounding up elders and taking care of your business while you do fuckall in Virginia."

Stretching his arms along the back of the bench, Kai gazes out across the parking lot as an ambulance leaves the rear bay. "Do I not make every meeting? Don't I resolve conflicts in a civil and timely manner? Haven't I eased tension between us and the covens in Louisiana for the first time in a century?

"You've prepared your whole life for this." He slaps Luke hard on the back. "Blame yourself for staying stuck in Dad's office. I firmly believe you can have a job _and_ a life."

"Which is dwindling, Kai. I still don't get how you haven't aged back up to the old ass forty year old man you are, but you're not immortal. You're going to die and after all this time it'd be a damn shame if you took the rest of us with you."

He gets to his feet because he truly can't stand his brother. The feeling's mutual. "I'm calling the quorum, so you and Sheila might as well stick around for a bit."

 _x_

"Your buff weirdo sounds a lot less weird." April shuts the laptop, pushes it off her lap, and sits up in a cross legged position. While Bonnie was in the shower, she changed into her pajamas—a pair of worn cotton shorts and a paint splattered t-shirt. "What's going on?"

Bonnie rolls her eyes at the descriptor that seems to have stuck. "I dunno. His dad's sick. Like, really sick."

"Oh, god. Are you close?"

"No, I've never met his family."

"Then, why do you look so sad?"

"I do not," she refutes, and April raises her eyebrows. "I don't."

"Bonnie, you look as if you're never going to see him again. Do you like him?"

Childishly, she fires back with, "Do you like Jeremy?"

"I've always had a crush on Jeremy. Your turn."

Her lips flap open before a coherent response comes to mind. She stands up and heads to her dresser for clothes. "We live together. It's weird. I can't think of him like that with my Grams under the same roof."

"Oh, well, if that's your only hang-up, then move out."

"I just got here!"

Exasperatedly, April falls back on the bed and huffs. "Okay, Miss Mental Gymnastics. Whatever you say."

Bonnie slides into a pair of panties then rustles around for a shirt. "I've known him for, like, a week."

"You and I have both hooked up with guys we've known for a few hours."

"This is different," she groans, her brows furrowing together. She hates the unsettling ease in which she can talk to Kai. They could already be friends without realizing it. And he's so damn handsome, even she can't look at him in long stretches without carnal thoughts cropping up. If they'd met in Boston, she would've immediately jumped his bones. Somehow, though, this is better?

"Okay, my parents met and got married the same day in a Vegas chapel. They were together for fifteen years before she died." April tosses her the henley bundled at the foot of the bed. Bonnie catches it, pauses, and then pulls it on over her head. The towel drops and she kicks it towards the door.

"We can't all be so lucky," is her sardonic response to the romantic anecdote. Abby and Rudy were high school sweethearts but that didn't stop her from abandoning him or her daughter.

Bonnie heads for the door, and April scrambles after her asking, "Are you scared he doesn't like you?"

"Oh, I know he does," she throws over her shoulder as they make their way downstairs. "No questions asked."

"How about this? My dad is looking to rent out the ranch house."

"Ha! With what money? I don't have a job or even a car. I'm waiting to hear back from Rudy."

"I can still talk to him for you. I mean, the ranch is already paid for, so maybe he'll just have you cover the utilities."

She appreciates the thought but equally bristles at the idea. If she moves out again, she's moving away for good. "Thank you, but no thanks. I'm just in my feelings. I'll get over it."

 _x_

When he returns to the room, Luke is gone and so is the intern. Sheila has pulled a chair beside the hospital bed and holds one of Joshua's hands in both of hers. Kai visibly grimaces, but she only grips tighter. "I called Bonnie so she'd know we didn't crash in the middle of Iowa."

"Thank you."

"I don't know how quick you thought this trip was going to be, but Luke is calling the elders. Something about the future of the coven or whatever."

"That's probably best. Attend the meeting while you're here."

"You didn't have to come."

She meets his curious gaze and nods. "I wanted to." Her gaze drifts back to the ailing man. "What do you know about your father's twin brother?"

"Uncle Jake?" He shrugs and walks over to the window. The private suite has a nice view of the river running through the city. "Other than the fact that he was the weaker twin, not much."

"Jacob was not weak. Much like Jo, he had other things he wanted to focus on outside of coven matters."

Kai throws a wry smirk her way. "Sheils, were you getting groovy with my uncle?"

"As a matter of fact, we were engaged."

"Old family friend, my ass. You were almost _family_."

"We were young. In hindsight, I wonder how things would've turned out if I hadn't pushed him so hard."

"Pushed?" He leans against the wall by the window and crosses his arms. Sheila's talked a lot about her role with the Gemini, but she's always been mum on her past and her family. Kai's been able to eke little nuggets out of her, but this feels weighty.

"There was a period of time... After he explained to me how the merge worked, I called things off. Returned the ring, notified our family and friends. He'd spent so much time with me that he wasn't practicing. Not consistently at least. It made no sense to me to marry a man who could very possibly die. Even worse, his body would die but his soul would live on in a man who couldn't be more different than my Jacob.

"That kicked his ass into gear, but I'm afraid it was too late. He spent all his free time practicing to the point where his magic grew erratic and perhaps his mind started to go. When it was finally time for the merge ceremony, he couldn't control his powers. And all Joshua knows is power and control."

Her dark eyes trail down Joshua's face and some emotion chokes her up for a long minute. Kai frowns but he allows her the moment.

"Your father wrote me a letter afterwards. Even sent this with it." She loosens her grip to grasp the long silver chain she always wears around her neck to reveal a ring. It's modest, nothing like what engagement rings look like now, but it's delicate. Feminine. She exhales like she's released decades worth of tension. "That helped. Like, closing a book."

"So, what? You stuck around because your long lost love is somewhere in all that..." He gesticulates at the sleeping man. "Mess?"

"No, Malachai, that's not why. I'll remind you that I'm an educator and one of the few Bennett witches willing to share my knowledge. Within reason. Your elders have valued my expertise over the years. Besides," she sighs. "Jacob isn't in there. Maybe a shadow of his soul or remnants, but he's been gone for a very long time."

He steps forward until he's at the foot of the hospital bed looking down on his father. "This have anything to do with why you decided to pull me out of the prison world and take me in?"

"Perhaps. I think a part of me believed Jacob would've never treated his son, his children the way Joshua did with you and the others. I wouldn't have let him. Another part of me felt guilty. I pushed Jacob away, something in Abigail convinced her being away from home was better. I did it again with Bonnie thinking I was fixing my mistake, but I allowed her to distance and isolate herself. I figured I would get it right with _someone._ "

He flares his nose. Of all people, Sheila's never treated him like something to be fixed, but that's exactly what it sounds like. "You know I'm not your son, right?"

"I'm very aware of that fact. Nor have I convinced myself you're the stand-in child Jacob and I never had."

He squints, biting back the desire to be pissed at the one person in his life who's given a damn. "Does Bonnie know any of this?"

She shakes her head. "No. All she knows is her grandfather Pete was in the navy and we lost him during the war." For effect, she waves her left hand which still wears her wedding ring.

"No wonder the girl hates secrets." By her expression, Sheila doesn't take the deduction in stride, to which he cooly shrugs. "Just saying. You had a whole other life your own granddaughter doesn't know about. She still has no idea that I slaughtered half my family. She thinks Abby's dead. And you wanna talk about information overload."

"You manage your coven, but you do not tell me how to relate to my own kin."

His hands go up in surrender. "I'm not trying to fight with you. I'm just telling you what I've learned. That's how communication works, right? She talks, I listen."

Sheila backs down, untangling herself from Joshua by placing his hand to rest on his abdomen. "Forgive me for not wanting my granddaughter to make my mistakes."

"The narcissist in me senses a veiled criticism, but I'll overlook it. You mean well. While I think we should let the chips fall where they may, I can't fault you for your good intentions. At least you have 'em."

"Is that why you haven't told her about your past yourself?" She levels him with a gaze.

Avoiding the question, his eyes swing to the door. Luke hasn't come back, but Kai's not in the mood to play the dutiful son. "Has he woken up since we've been here?"

"No."

"Let's go. Dear old dad will be here tomorrow."

 _Past_

The merge brought together four siblings who haven't been in the same room in nineteen years—and the father none of them really like.

On one queen bed, Jo keeps fidgeting as if she can't get comfortable in her own skin and Liv watches her with an inscrutable gaze from the "living room" area of the hotel room. Beside her, Luke alternates between glaring at their father, seated at the desk, and Kai laying spread eagle on the other bed. He scratches his ear canal with his pinky finger and clicks his throat obnoxiously.

"Quit it!" Jo finally snaps and he does. "God, where is Sheila? I need to know what the hell she did to me."

"Other than save your life?" He receives three scowls for that.

"I don't feel right. She messed something up."

"No, she didn't."

"You're only taking her side because she gave you exactly what you wanted. Magic, leadership…" Jo scoffs. "You kill four kids and still get rewarded."

"I guess seventeen years of solitary confinement was just a vacation, huh."

"Shut up, both of you!" Liv's command silences the room. She pushes herself off the couch and crosses the room to the mini-bar. There are puny bottles of vodka and gin and whiskey. She screws the cap off a vodka. "You guys are seriously the worst. You should've merged to begin with and none of us would be here right now listening to you both bicker."

"Simmer down, Olivia," their father brooks while she downs the alcohol and coughs through the burn.

"No," she stomps her foot like the brat she should be able to be because she's the baby but her family deprived her of even that right. "I, for one, am grateful. Coven before family is what got us into this mess in the first place. You breed twins to have them go through some magical gladiator showdown and don't think about how that affects their ability to have relationships."

She tosses the empty bottle aside and downs the amber liquid next, exhaling roughly. What's left of her family watches her as if she's sprouted an extra head and they don't know how to tell her it has spinach in its teeth.

"Ever heard of _secure attachments_? Yeah, I have none. Luke knows me better than I know myself, and even a few weeks ago I looked at him thinking what's the point if we're just meant to kill each other?"

"Liv!"

"Oh, shove it! You know I'm right. Whatever it is that Sheila did, tell her thank you for me. I get to have a life now, finish getting my degree, meet a guy and maybe even stick around long enough to fall in love. And you two…"

A thoroughly amused Kai sits up to mirror Jo's position, both at the foot of the beds. Liv tosses them mini-bottles—gin. Because they're old. "L'chaim! You get to live with yourselves."

"I've got class in the morning," she mutters, gathering her leather jacket in her arms. "I'll see you for solstices and holidays, but beyond that? Later days!"

She slams the door on the way out. After a tense moment of quiet, Kai clears his throat. "Vodka and whiskey? That's not going to sit well on her stomach."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** i've been working on a handful of other bk AUs, but i just cannot shake this one. and i'm perfectly fine with that. some stories you write and other write themselves. this one is definitely the latter.


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